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Joshua 22:10-34
New English Translation

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.[a] 11 The Israelites received this report:[b] “Look, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar at the entrance to[c] 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.[d]

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.[e] 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.[f] 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.[g] 18 Now today you dare to turn back[h] from following the Lord! You are rebelling today against the Lord; tomorrow he may break out in anger against[i] the entire community of Israel. 19 But if your own land[j] is impure,[k] cross over to the Lord’s own land,[l] where the Lord himself lives,[m] and settle down among us.[n] But don’t rebel against the Lord or us[o] 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,[p] though only one man had sinned. He most certainly died for his sin!’”[q]

21 The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders[r] of the Israelite clans: 22 “El, God, the Lord![s] El, God, the Lord! He knows the truth![t] Israel must also know! If we have rebelled or disobeyed the Lord,[u] don’t spare us[v] today! 23 If we have built[w] an altar for ourselves to turn back from following the Lord by making[x] burnt sacrifices and grain offerings on it, or by offering[y] tokens of peace[z] on it, the Lord himself will punish us.[aa] 24 We swear we have done this because we were worried that[ab] in the future your descendants would say to our descendants, ‘What relationship do you have with the Lord God of Israel?[ac] 25 The Lord made the Jordan a boundary between us and you Reubenites and Gadites. You have no right to worship the Lord.’[ad] In this way your descendants might cause our descendants to stop obeying[ae] 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[af] and our descendants who follow us, that we will honor the Lord in his very presence[ag] with burnt offerings, sacrifices, and tokens of peace.[ah] Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to our descendants, ‘You have no right to worship the Lord.’[ai] 28 We said, ‘If in the future they say such a thing[aj] to us or to our descendants, we will reply, “See the model of the Lord’s altar that our ancestors[ak] made, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a reminder to us and you.”’[al] 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[am] aside from the altar of the Lord our God located in front of his dwelling place!”[an]

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,[ao] they were satisfied.[ap] 31 Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, said to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the Manassehites,[aq] “Today we know that the Lord is among us, because you have not disobeyed the Lord in this.[ar] Now[as] you have rescued the Israelites from the Lord’s judgment.”[at]

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.[au] 33 The Israelites were satisfied with their report and gave thanks to God.[av] They said nothing more about launching an attack to destroy the land in which the Reubenites and Gadites lived.[aw] 34 The Reubenites and Gadites named the altar, “Surely it is a Reminder to us[ax] that the Lord is God.”

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Footnotes

  1. 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.”
  2. Joshua 22:11 tn Heb “the sons of Israel heard, saying.”
  3. Joshua 22:11 tn Heb “toward the front of.”
  4. Joshua 22:12 tn Heb “to go up against them for battle.”
  5. 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.”
  6. 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?”
  7. 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.”
  8. Joshua 22:18 tn Heb “you are turning back.”
  9. Joshua 22:18 tn Or “he will be angry with.”
  10. Joshua 22:19 tn Heb “the land of your possession.”
  11. 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).
  12. Joshua 22:19 tn Heb “the land of the possession of the Lord.”
  13. 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.
  14. Joshua 22:19 tn Heb “and take for yourselves in our midst.”
  15. 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”).
  16. 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?”
  17. 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.
  18. Joshua 22:21 tn Heb “answered and spoke to the heads of.”
  19. 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.”
  20. Joshua 22:22 tn Heb “he knows.”
  21. Joshua 22:22 tn Heb “if in rebellion or if in unfaithfulness against the Lord.”
  22. 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.
  23. Joshua 22:23 tn Heb “by building.” The prepositional phrase may be subordinated to what precedes, “if in unfaithfulness…by building.”
  24. Joshua 22:23 tn Heb “or if to offer up.”
  25. Joshua 22:23 tn Heb “or if to make.”
  26. Joshua 22:23 tn Or “peace offerings.”
  27. 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.”
  28. Joshua 22:24 tn Heb “Surely, from worry concerning a matter we have done this, saying.”
  29. 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!”
  30. Joshua 22:25 tn Heb “You have no portion in the Lord.”
  31. Joshua 22:25 tn Heb “fearing.”
  32. Joshua 22:27 tn Heb “but it is a witness between us and you.”
  33. Joshua 22:27 tn Heb “to do the service of the Lord before him.”
  34. Joshua 22:27 tn Or “peace offerings.”
  35. Joshua 22:27 tn Heb “You have no portion in the Lord.”
  36. Joshua 22:28 tn The words “such a thing” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
  37. Joshua 22:28 tn Heb “fathers.”
  38. Joshua 22:28 tn Heb “but it is a witness between us and you.”
  39. Joshua 22:29 tn Or “peace offerings.”
  40. Joshua 22:29 sn The Lord’s dwelling place here refers to the tabernacle.
  41. Joshua 22:30 tn Heb “the sons of Reuben, and the sons of Gad, and the sons of Manasseh.”
  42. Joshua 22:30 tn Heb “it was good in their eyes.”
  43. Joshua 22:31 tn Heb “the sons of Reuben, and the sons of Gad, and the sons of Manasseh.”
  44. Joshua 22:31 tn Heb “because you were not unfaithful with this unfaithfulness against the Lord.”
  45. Joshua 22:31 tn On the use of אָז (ʾaz) in a logical sense, see IBHS 667 §39.3.4f.
  46. Joshua 22:31 tn Heb “the hand (i.e., power) of the Lord.”
  47. 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.”
  48. 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.”
  49. 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.”
  50. Joshua 22:34 tn Heb “a witness between us.”
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Joshua 22:10-34
World English Bible

10 When they came to the region near the Jordan, that is in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, a great altar to look at. 11 The children of Israel heard this, “Behold, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar along the border of the land of Canaan, in the region around the Jordan, on the side that belongs to the children of Israel.” 12 When the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up against them to war. 13 The children of Israel sent to the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest. 14 With him were ten princes, one prince of a fathers’ house for each of the tribes of Israel; and they were each head of their fathers’ houses among the thousands of Israel. 15 They came to the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying, 16 “The whole congregation of Yahweh says, ‘What trespass is this that you have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away today from following Yahweh, in that you have built yourselves an altar, to rebel today against Yahweh? 17 Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, although there came a plague on the congregation of Yahweh, 18 that you must turn away today from following Yahweh? It will be, since you rebel today against Yahweh, that tomorrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. 19 However, if the land of your possession is unclean, then pass over to the land of the possession of Yahweh, in which Yahweh’s tabernacle dwells, and take possession among us; but don’t rebel against Yahweh, nor rebel against us, in building an altar other than Yahweh our God’s altar. 20 Didn’t Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the devoted thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? That man didn’t perish alone in his iniquity.’”

21 Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered, and spoke to the heads of the thousands of Israel, 22 “The Mighty One, God, Yahweh, the Mighty One, God, Yahweh, he knows; and Israel shall know: if it was in rebellion, or if in trespass against Yahweh (don’t save us today), 23 that we have built us an altar to turn away from following Yahweh; or if to offer burnt offering or meal offering, or if to offer sacrifices of peace offerings, let Yahweh himself require it.

24 “If we have not out of concern done this, and for a reason, saying, ‘In time to come your children might speak to our children, saying, “What have you to do with Yahweh, the God of Israel? 25 For Yahweh has made the Jordan a border between us and you, you children of Reuben and children of Gad. You have no portion in Yahweh.”’ So your children might make our children cease from fearing Yahweh.

26 “Therefore we said, ‘Let’s now prepare to build ourselves an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice; 27 but it will be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we may perform the service of Yahweh before him with our burnt offerings, with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings;’ that your children may not tell our children in time to come, ‘You have no portion in Yahweh.’

28 “Therefore we said, ‘It shall be, when they tell us or our generations this in time to come, that we shall say, “Behold the pattern of Yahweh’s altar, which our fathers made, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice; but it is a witness between us and you.”’

29 “Far be it from us that we should rebel against Yahweh, and turn away today from following Yahweh, to build an altar for burnt offering, for meal offering, or for sacrifice, besides Yahweh our God’s altar that is before his tabernacle!”

30 When Phinehas the priest, and the princes of the congregation, even the heads of the thousands of Israel that were with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them well. 31 Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the children of Reuben, to the children of Gad, and to the children of Manasseh, “Today we know that Yahweh is among us, because you have not committed this trespass against Yahweh. Now you have delivered the children of Israel out of Yahweh’s hand.” 32 Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the princes, returned from the children of Reuben, and from the children of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, to the land of Canaan, to the children of Israel, and brought them word again. 33 The thing pleased the children of Israel; and the children of Israel blessed God, and spoke no more of going up against them to war, to destroy the land in which the children of Reuben and the children of Gad lived. 34 The children of Reuben and the children of Gad named the altar “A Witness Between Us that Yahweh is God.”

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