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Joshua 22
New English Translation

Joshua Sends Home the Eastern Tribes

22 Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh 2 and told them: “You have carried out all the instructions of Moses the Lord’s servant, and you have obeyed all I have told you.[a] 3 You have not abandoned your fellow Israelites[b] this entire time,[c] right up to this very day. You have completed the task given you by the Lord your God.[d] 4 Now the Lord your God has made your fellow Israelites secure,[e] just as he promised them. So now you may turn around and go to your homes[f] in your own land[g] that Moses the Lord’s servant assigned to you east of the Jordan. 5 But carefully obey the commands and instructions Moses the Lord’s servant gave you. Love[h] the Lord your God, follow all his instructions,[i] obey[j] his commands, be loyal to him,[k] and serve him with all your heart and being!”[l]

6 Joshua rewarded[m] them and sent them on their way; they returned to their homes.[n] 7 (Now to one half-tribe of Manasseh, Moses had assigned land in Bashan; and to the other half Joshua had assigned land on the west side of the Jordan with their fellow Israelites.) When Joshua sent them home,[o] he rewarded[p] them, 8 saying, “Take home[q] great wealth, a lot of cattle,[r] silver, gold, bronze, iron, and a lot of[s] clothing. Divide up the goods captured from your enemies with your brothers.” 9 So the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites in Shiloh in the land of Canaan and headed home to their own land in Gilead,[t] which they acquired by the Lord’s command through Moses.

Civil War is Averted

10 The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh came to Geliloth near the Jordan in the land of Canaan and built there, near the Jordan, an impressive altar.[u] 11 The Israelites received this report:[v] “Look, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar at the entrance to[w] the land of Canaan, at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side.” 12 When the Israelites heard this, the entire Israelite community assembled at Shiloh to launch an attack against them.[x]

13 The Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, to the land of Gilead to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. 14 He was accompanied by ten leaders, one from each of the Israelite tribes, each one a family leader among the Israelite clans.[y] 15 They went to the land of Gilead to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and said to them: 16 “The entire community of the Lord says, ‘Why have you disobeyed the God of Israel by turning back today from following the Lord? You built an altar for yourselves and have rebelled today against the Lord.[z] 17 The sin we committed at Peor was bad enough. To this very day we have not purified ourselves; it even brought a plague on the community of the Lord.[aa] 18 Now today you dare to turn back[ab] from following the Lord! You are rebelling today against the Lord; tomorrow he may break out in anger against[ac] the entire community of Israel. 19 But if your own land[ad] is impure,[ae] cross over to the Lord’s own land,[af] where the Lord himself lives,[ag] and settle down among us.[ah] But don’t rebel against the Lord or us[ai] by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Lord our God. 20 When Achan son of Zerah disobeyed the command about the city’s riches, the entire Israelite community was judged,[aj] though only one man had sinned. He most certainly died for his sin!’”[ak]

21 The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders[al] of the Israelite clans: 22 “El, God, the Lord![am] El, God, the Lord! He knows the truth![an] Israel must also know! If we have rebelled or disobeyed the Lord,[ao] don’t spare us[ap] today! 23 If we have built[aq] an altar for ourselves to turn back from following the Lord by making[ar] burnt sacrifices and grain offerings on it, or by offering[as] tokens of peace[at] on it, the Lord himself will punish us.[au] 24 We swear we have done this because we were worried that[av] in the future your descendants would say to our descendants, ‘What relationship do you have with the Lord God of Israel?[aw] 25 The Lord made the Jordan a boundary between us and you Reubenites and Gadites. You have no right to worship the Lord.’[ax] In this way your descendants might cause our descendants to stop obeying[ay] the Lord. 26 So we decided to build this altar, not for burnt offerings and sacrifices, 27 but as a reminder to us and you[az] and our descendants who follow us, that we will honor the Lord in his very presence[ba] with burnt offerings, sacrifices, and tokens of peace.[bb] Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to our descendants, ‘You have no right to worship the Lord.’[bc] 28 We said, ‘If in the future they say such a thing[bd] to us or to our descendants, we will reply, “See the model of the Lord’s altar that our ancestors[be] made, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a reminder to us and you.”’[bf] 29 Far be it from us to rebel against the Lord by turning back today from following after the Lord by building an altar for burnt offerings, sacrifices, and tokens of peace[bg] aside from the altar of the Lord our God located in front of his dwelling place!”[bh]

30 When Phinehas the priest and the community leaders and Israel’s clan leaders who accompanied him heard the defense of the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the Manassehites,[bi] they were satisfied.[bj] 31 Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, said to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the Manassehites,[bk] “Today we know that the Lord is among us, because you have not disobeyed the Lord in this.[bl] Now[bm] you have rescued the Israelites from the Lord’s judgment.”[bn]

32 Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, and the leaders left the Reubenites and Gadites in the land of Gilead and reported back to the Israelites in the land of Canaan.[bo] 33 The Israelites were satisfied with their report and gave thanks to God.[bp] They said nothing more about launching an attack to destroy the land in which the Reubenites and Gadites lived.[bq] 34 The Reubenites and Gadites named the altar, “Surely it is a Reminder to us[br] that the Lord is God.”

Footnotes

  1. Joshua 22:2 tn Heb “You have kept all which Moses, the Lord’s servant, commanded you, and you have listened to my voice, to all which I commanded you.”
  2. Joshua 22:3 tn Heb “your brothers” (also in vv. 4, 7), but this does not refer to siblings or necessarily even to relatives. It refers to the Israelites of the remaining tribes.
  3. Joshua 22:3 tn Heb “these many days.”
  4. Joshua 22:3 tn Heb “you have kept the charge of the command of the Lord your God.”
  5. Joshua 22:4 tn Heb “has given rest to your brothers.”
  6. Joshua 22:4 tn Heb “tents.”
  7. Joshua 22:4 tn Heb “the land of your possession.”
  8. Joshua 22:5 tn Heb “But be very careful to do the commandment and the law which Moses, the Lord’s servant, commanded you, to love.”
  9. Joshua 22:5 tn Heb “walk in all his paths.”
  10. Joshua 22:5 tn Or “keep.”
  11. Joshua 22:5 tn Heb “hug him.”
  12. Joshua 22:5 tn Or “soul.”
  13. Joshua 22:6 tn Heb “blessed.” However, see v. 8, where rewards are given.
  14. Joshua 22:6 tn Heb “and they went to their tents.”
  15. Joshua 22:7 tn Heb “to their tents.”
  16. Joshua 22:7 tn Heb “blessed.”
  17. Joshua 22:8 tn Heb “return to your tents with.”
  18. Joshua 22:8 tn Heb “very many cattle.”
  19. Joshua 22:8 tn Heb “very much clothing.”
  20. Joshua 22:9 tn Heb “returned and went from the sons of Israel, from Shiloh which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession.”
  21. Joshua 22:10 tn Heb “and they went to Geliloth of the Jordan which is in the land of Canaan, and the sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar near the Jordan, an altar great with respect to appearance.”
  22. Joshua 22:11 tn Heb “the sons of Israel heard, saying.”
  23. Joshua 22:11 tn Heb “toward the front of.”
  24. Joshua 22:12 tn Heb “to go up against them for battle.”
  25. Joshua 22:14 tn Heb “ten leaders with him, one leader, one leader for a paternal house, for all the tribes of Israel, and each a head of the house of their father, they belong to the clans of Israel.”
  26. Joshua 22:16 tn Heb “What is this unfaithfulness with which you have been unfaithful against the God of Israel, turning today from after the Lord, when you built for yourselves an altar, rebelling today against the Lord?”
  27. Joshua 22:17 tn Heb “Was the sin of Peor too insignificant for us, from which we have not made purification to this day? And there was a plague in the assembly of the Lord.”
  28. Joshua 22:18 tn Heb “you are turning back.”
  29. Joshua 22:18 tn Or “he will be angry with.”
  30. Joshua 22:19 tn Heb “the land of your possession.”
  31. Joshua 22:19 sn The western tribes here imagine a possible motive for the action of the eastern tribes. T. C. Butler explains the significance of the land’s “impurity”: “East Jordan is impure because it is not Yahweh’s possession. Rather it is simply ‘your possession.’ That means it is land where Yahweh does not live, land which his presence has not sanctified and purified” (Joshua [WBC], 247).
  32. Joshua 22:19 tn Heb “the land of the possession of the Lord.”
  33. Joshua 22:19 tn Heb “where the dwelling place of the Lord resides.”sn The phrase where the Lord himself lives refers to the tabernacle.
  34. Joshua 22:19 tn Heb “and take for yourselves in our midst.”
  35. Joshua 22:19 tc Heb “and us to you rebel.” The reading of the MT, the accusative sign with suffix (וְאֹתָנוּ, veʾotanu), is problematic with the verb “rebel” (מָרַד, marad). Many Hebrew mss correctly read the negative particle אַל (ʾal) for the preposition אֶל (ʾel, “to”).
  36. Joshua 22:20 tn Heb “Is it not [true that] Achan son of Zerah was unfaithful with unfaithfulness concerning what was set apart [to the Lord] and against all the assembly of Israel there was anger?”
  37. Joshua 22:20 tn The second half of the verse reads literally, “and he [was] one man, he did not die for his sin.” There are at least two possible ways to explain this statement: (1) One might interpret the statement to mean that Achan was not the only person who died for his sin. In this case it could be translated, “and he was not the only one to die because of his sin.” (2) Another option, the one reflected in the translation, is to take the words וְהוּא אִישׁ אֶחָד (vehuʾ ʾish ʾekhad, “and he [was] one man”) as a concessive clause and join it with what precedes. The remaining words (לֹא גָוַע בַּעֲוֹנוֹ, loʾ gavaʿ baʿavono) must then be taken as a rhetorical question (“Did he not die for his sin?”). Taking the last sentence as interrogative is consistent with the first part of the verse, a rhetorical question introduced with the interrogative particle. The present translation has converted these rhetorical questions into affirmative statements to bring out more clearly the points they are emphasizing. For further discussion, see T. C. Butler, Joshua (WBC), 240.
  38. Joshua 22:21 tn Heb “answered and spoke to the heads of.”
  39. Joshua 22:22 sn Israel’s God is here identified with three names: (1) אֵל (ʾel), “El” (or “God”); (2) אֱלֹהִים (ʾelohim), “Elohim” (or “God”), and (3) יְהוָה (yehvah), “Yahweh” (or “the Lord”). The name אֵל (ʾel, “El”) is often compounded with titles, for example, El Elyon, “God Most High.”
  40. Joshua 22:22 tn Heb “he knows.”
  41. Joshua 22:22 tn Heb “if in rebellion or if in unfaithfulness against the Lord.”
  42. Joshua 22:22 tn Heb “do not save us.” The verb form is singular, being addressed to either collective Israel or the Lord himself. The LXX translates in the third person.
  43. Joshua 22:23 tn Heb “by building.” The prepositional phrase may be subordinated to what precedes, “if in unfaithfulness…by building.”
  44. Joshua 22:23 tn Heb “or if to offer up.”
  45. Joshua 22:23 tn Heb “or if to make.”
  46. Joshua 22:23 tn Or “peace offerings.”
  47. Joshua 22:23 tn Heb “the Lord, he will seek.” Perhaps this is a self-imprecation in an oath, “may the Lord himself punish us.”
  48. Joshua 22:24 tn Heb “Surely, from worry concerning a matter we have done this, saying.”
  49. Joshua 22:24 tn Heb “What is there to you and to the Lord God of Israel?” The rhetorical question is sarcastic in tone and anticipates a response, “Absolutely none!”
  50. Joshua 22:25 tn Heb “You have no portion in the Lord.”
  51. Joshua 22:25 tn Heb “fearing.”
  52. Joshua 22:27 tn Heb “but it is a witness between us and you.”
  53. Joshua 22:27 tn Heb “to do the service of the Lord before him.”
  54. Joshua 22:27 tn Or “peace offerings.”
  55. Joshua 22:27 tn Heb “You have no portion in the Lord.”
  56. Joshua 22:28 tn The words “such a thing” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
  57. Joshua 22:28 tn Heb “fathers.”
  58. Joshua 22:28 tn Heb “but it is a witness between us and you.”
  59. Joshua 22:29 tn Or “peace offerings.”
  60. Joshua 22:29 sn The Lord’s dwelling place here refers to the tabernacle.
  61. Joshua 22:30 tn Heb “the sons of Reuben, and the sons of Gad, and the sons of Manasseh.”
  62. Joshua 22:30 tn Heb “it was good in their eyes.”
  63. Joshua 22:31 tn Heb “the sons of Reuben, and the sons of Gad, and the sons of Manasseh.”
  64. Joshua 22:31 tn Heb “because you were not unfaithful with this unfaithfulness against the Lord.”
  65. Joshua 22:31 tn On the use of אָז (ʾaz) in a logical sense, see IBHS 667 §39.3.4f.
  66. Joshua 22:31 tn Heb “the hand (i.e., power) of the Lord.”
  67. Joshua 22:32 tn Heb “and Phinehas…returned from the sons of Reuben and from the sons of Gad, from the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the sons of Israel. And they brought back to them a word.”
  68. Joshua 22:33 tn Heb “and the word was good in the eyes of the sons of Israel and the sons of Israel blessed God.”
  69. Joshua 22:33 tn Heb “and they did not speak about going up against them for battle to destroy the land in which the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad were living.”
  70. Joshua 22:34 tn Heb “a witness between us.”
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Joshua 22
The Message

22 1-5 Then Joshua called together the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. He said: “You have carried out everything Moses the servant of God commanded you, and you have obediently done everything I have commanded you. All this time and right down to this very day you have not abandoned your brothers; you’ve shouldered the task laid on you by God, your God. And now God, your God, has given rest to your brothers just as he promised them. You’re now free to go back to your homes, the country of your inheritance that Moses the servant of God gave you on the other side of the Jordan. Only this: Be vigilant in keeping the Commandment and The Revelation that Moses the servant of God laid on you: Love God, your God, walk in all his ways, do what he’s commanded, embrace him, serve him with everything you are and have.”

6-7 Then Joshua blessed them and sent them on their way. They went home. (To the half-tribe of Manasseh, Moses had assigned a share in Bashan. To the other half, Joshua assigned land with their brothers west of the Jordan.)

7-8 When Joshua sent them off to their homes, he blessed them. He said: “Go home. You’re going home rich—great herds of cattle, silver and gold, bronze and iron, huge piles of clothing. Share the wealth with your friends and families—all this plunder from your enemies!”

* * *

9 The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the People of Israel at Shiloh in the land of Canaan to return to Gilead, the land of their possession, which they had taken under the command of Moses as ordered by God.

10 They arrived at Geliloth on the Jordan (touching on Canaanite land). There the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar on the banks of the Jordan—a huge altar!

11 The People of Israel heard of it: “What’s this? The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar facing the land of Canaan at Geliloth on the Jordan, across from the People of Israel!”

12-14 When the People of Israel heard this, the entire congregation mustered at Shiloh to go to war against them. They sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (that is, to the land of Gilead). Accompanying him were ten chiefs, one chief for each of the ten tribes, each the head of his ancestral family. They represented the military divisions of Israel.

15-18 They went to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh and spoke to them: “The entire congregation of God wants to know: What is this violation against the God of Israel that you have committed, turning your back on God and building your own altar—a blatant act of rebellion against God? Wasn’t the crime of Peor enough for us? Why, to this day we aren’t rid of it, still living with the fallout of the plague on the congregation of God! Look at you—turning your back on God! If you rebel against God today, tomorrow he’ll vent his anger on all of us, the entire congregation of Israel.

19-20 “If you think the land of your possession isn’t holy enough but somehow contaminated, come back over to God’s possession, where God’s Dwelling is set up, and take your land there, but don’t rebel against God. And don’t rebel against us by building your own altar apart from the Altar of our God. When Achan son of Zerah violated the holy curse, didn’t anger fall on the whole congregation of Israel? He wasn’t the only one to die for his sin.”

21-22 The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh replied to the heads of the tribes of Israel:

    The God of Gods is God,
        The God of Gods is God!

22-23 “He knows and he’ll let Israel know if this is a rebellious betrayal of God. And if it is, don’t bother saving us. If we built ourselves an altar in rebellion against God, if we did it to present on it Whole-Burnt-Offerings or Grain-Offerings or to enact there sacrificial Peace-Offerings, let God decide.

24-25 “But that’s not it. We did it because we cared. We were anxious lest someday your children should say to our children, ‘You’re not connected with God, the God of Israel! God made the Jordan a boundary between us and you. You Reubenites and Gadites have no part in God.’ And then your children might cause our children to quit worshiping God.

26 “So we said to ourselves, ‘Let’s do something. Let’s build an altar—but not for Whole-Burnt-Offerings, not for sacrifices.’

27 “We built this altar as a witness between us and you and our children coming after us, a witness to the Altar where we worship God in his Sacred Dwelling with our Whole-Burnt-Offerings and our sacrifices and our Peace-Offerings.

“This way, your children won’t be able to say to our children in the future, ‘You have no part in God.’

28 “We said to ourselves, ‘If anyone speaks disparagingly to us or to our children in the future, we’ll say: Look at this model of God’s Altar which our ancestors made. It’s not for Whole-Burnt-Offerings, not for sacrifices. It’s a witness connecting us with you.’

29 “Rebelling against or turning our backs on God is the last thing on our minds right now. We never dreamed of building an altar for Whole-Burnt-Offerings or Grain-Offerings to rival the Altar of our God in front of his Sacred Dwelling.”

30 Phinehas the priest, all the heads of the congregation, and the heads of the military divisions of Israel who were also with him heard what the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had to say. They were satisfied.

31 Priest Phinehas son of Eleazar said to Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, “Now we’re convinced that God is present with us since you haven’t been disloyal to God in this matter. You saved the People of Israel from God’s discipline.”

32-33 Then Priest Phinehas son of Eleazar left the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (from Gilead) and, with the chiefs, returned to the land of Canaan to the People of Israel and gave a full report. They were pleased with the report. The People of Israel blessed God—there was no more talk of attacking and destroying the land in which the Reubenites and Gadites were living.

34 Reuben and Gad named the altar:

    A Witness Between Us.
    God Alone Is God.

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