An Altar Called Witness

¹⁰ And they came to the region of the Jordan which is in the land of Canaan, and the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, a large altar in appearance. ¹¹ And the sons of Israel heard it ^[a]said, “Behold, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have ^(A)built an altar at the ^[b]entrance of the land of Canaan, in the region of the Jordan, on the side belonging to the sons of Israel.” ¹² Then the sons of Israel heard of it, and the whole congregation of the sons of Israel assembled themselves at ^(B)Shiloh to go up against them in war.

¹³ Then the sons of Israel sent to the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, ^(C)Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, ¹⁴ and with him ten leaders, one leader for each father’s household from each of the tribes of Israel; and ^(D)each one of them was the head of his father’s household among the ^[c]thousands of Israel. ¹⁵ So they came to the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them saying, ¹⁶ “Thus says the whole congregation of Yahweh, ‘What is this unfaithful act which you have committed against the God of Israel, turning away from following Yahweh this day, by ^(E)building yourselves an altar, to rebel against Yahweh this day? ¹⁷ Is ^(F)the iniquity of Peor too small a thing for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, although there was a plague on the congregation of Yahweh? ¹⁸ Yet you are turning away this day from following Yahweh. Now it will be that, if you rebel against Yahweh today, ^(G)He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel tomorrow. ¹⁹ If, however, the land of your possession is unclean, then ^[d]cross into the land of the possession of Yahweh, where the tabernacle of Yahweh dwells, and take possession among us. But do not rebel against Yahweh, nor rebel against us by ^(H)building an altar for yourselves, besides the altar of Yahweh our God. ²⁰ Did not ^(I)Achan the son of Zerah act unfaithfully in the things devoted to destruction, and indignation fall on all the congregation of Israel? But he was not the only man to breathe his last in his iniquity.’”

²¹ Then the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered and spoke to the heads of the thousands of Israel. ²² “The ^(J)Mighty One, God, Yahweh, the Mighty One, God, Yahweh! ^(K)He knows, and may Israel itself know. If it was in rebellion or if in an unfaithful act against Yahweh, do not save us this day! ²³ If we have built for ourselves an altar to turn away from following Yahweh, or if to ^(L)perform a burnt offering or grain offering on it, or if to offer sacrifices of peace offerings on it, may Yahweh Himself require it. ²⁴ But truly we have done this out of concern, ^[e]for a reason, saying, ‘In time to come your sons may say to our ^[f]sons, “What have you to do with Yahweh, the God of Israel? ²⁵ And Yahweh has made the Jordan a border between us and you, you sons of Reuben and sons of Gad; you have no portion in Yahweh.” So your sons may make our sons stop fearing Yahweh.’

²⁶ “Therefore we said, ‘Let us ^[g]build an altar, not for burnt offering or for sacrifice; ²⁷ rather it shall be ^(M)a witness between us and you and between our generations after us, that we are to ^(N)perform the service of Yahweh before Him with our burnt offerings and with our sacrifices and with our peace offerings, so that your sons will not say to our sons in time to come, “You have no portion in Yahweh.”’ ²⁸ Therefore we said, ‘It will also be that if they say this to us or to our generations in time to come, then we shall say, “See the copy of the altar of Yahweh which our fathers made, not for burnt offering or for sacrifice; rather it is a witness between us and you.”’ ²⁹ Far be it from us to rebel against Yahweh and turn away from following Yahweh this day, by ^(O)building an altar for burnt offering, for grain offering or for sacrifice, besides the altar of Yahweh our God which is before His ^[h]tabernacle.”

³⁰ So Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the congregation, even the heads of the thousands of Israel who were with him, heard the words which the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the sons of Manasseh spoke. And it was good in their sight. ³¹ And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Manasseh, “Today we know that ^(P)Yahweh is in our midst because you have not committed this unfaithful act against Yahweh; so then you have delivered the sons of Israel from the hand of Yahweh.”

³² Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest and the leaders 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 brought back word to them. ³³ And the word was good in the sight of the sons of Israel, and the sons of Israel ^(Q)blessed God; and they did not speak of going up against them in war to destroy the land in which the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad were living. ³⁴ And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad ^(R)called the altar Witness; “For,” they said, “it is a witness between us that Yahweh is God.”