23 If we have built our own altar to turn away from the Lord and to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, or to sacrifice fellowship offerings on it, may the Lord himself call us to account.

24 “No! We did it for fear that some day your descendants might say to ours, ‘What do you have to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? 25 The Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you—you Reubenites and Gadites! You have no share in the Lord.’ So your descendants might cause ours to stop fearing the Lord.

26 “That is why we said, ‘Let us get ready and build an altar—but not for burnt offerings or sacrifices.’

23 for building an altar to turn away from following the Lord. Or if we did so to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings or peace offerings on it, may the Lord himself take vengeance. 24 No, but we did it from fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, ‘What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? 25 For the Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you people of Reuben and people of Gad. You have no portion in the Lord.’ So your children might make our children cease to worship the Lord. 26 Therefore we said, ‘Let us now build an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice,

23 That we have built us an altar to turn from following the Lord, or if to offer thereon burnt offering or meat offering, or if to offer peace offerings thereon, let the Lord himself require it; 24 And if we have not rather done it for fear of this thing, saying, In time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying, What have ye to do with the Lord God of Israel? 25 For the Lord hath made Jordan a border between us and you, ye children of Reuben and children of Gad; ye have no part in the Lord: so shall your children make our children cease from fearing the Lord. 26 Therefore we said, Let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice:

23 If we have built an altar for ourselves to turn away from the Lord or to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings or peace offerings, may the Lord himself punish us.

24 “The truth is, we have built this altar because we fear that in the future your descendants will say to ours, ‘What right do you have to worship the Lord, the God of Israel? 25 The Lord has placed the Jordan River as a barrier between our people and you people of Reuben and Gad. You have no claim to the Lord.’ So your descendants may prevent our descendants from worshiping the Lord.

26 “So we decided to build the altar, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices,

23 If we have built ourselves an altar to turn from following the Lord, or if to offer on it burnt offerings or grain offerings, or if to offer peace offerings on it, let the Lord Himself require an account. 24 But in fact we have done it for fear, for a reason, saying, ‘In time to come your descendants may speak to our descendants, saying, “What have you to do with the Lord God of Israel? 25 For the Lord has made the Jordan a border between you and us, you children of Reuben and children of Gad. You have no part in the Lord.” So your descendants would make our descendants cease fearing the Lord.’ 26 Therefore we said, ‘Let us now prepare to build ourselves an altar, not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice,

23 If we broke God’s law, we ask the Lord himself to punish us. We did not build this altar to offer burnt offerings or grain and fellowship offerings.

24 “We did not build it for that reason. We feared that someday your people would not accept us as part of your nation. Then they might say, ‘You cannot worship the Lord, the God of Israel. 25 The Lord made the Jordan River a border between us and you people of Reuben and Gad. You cannot worship the Lord.’ So we feared that your children might make our children stop worshiping the Lord.

26 “That is why we decided to build this altar. But it is not for burnt offerings and sacrifices.

23 that we have built us an altar to turn away from following Jehovah; or if to offer thereon burnt-offering or meal-offering, or if to offer sacrifices of peace-offerings thereon, let Jehovah himself require it; 24 and if we have not rather out of carefulness done this, and of purpose, saying, In time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying, What have ye to do with Jehovah, the God of Israel? 25 for Jehovah hath made the Jordan a border between us and you, ye children of Reuben and children of Gad; ye have no portion in Jehovah: so might your children make our children cease from fearing Jehovah. 26 Therefore we said, Let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt-offering, nor for sacrifice:

23 —that we have built for ourselves an altar to turn from following Jehovah, and if it is to offer up burnt-offering and oblation on it, and if to offer peace-offerings thereon, let Jehovah himself require it from us; 24 and if we have not done it from fear of this thing, saying, In future your children will speak to our children, saying, What have ye to do with Jehovah the God of Israel? 25 Jehovah hath made the Jordan a border between us and you, ye children of Reuben and children of Gad, ye have no portion in Jehovah! And so shall your children make our children cease from fearing Jehovah. 26 And we said, Let us now set to work to build an altar, not for burnt-offering, nor for sacrifice,

23 don’t spare us today. If we built an altar with the intention of no longer following him, and if we built it for making burnt offerings, grain offerings, or fellowship offerings, let the Lord punish us. 

24 “We were worried because of the situation we’re in. We thought sometime in the future your children might say to our children, ‘What relationship do you have with the Lord God of Israel? 25 The Lord has made the Jordan River a dividing line between us and you, the descendants of Reuben and Gad. You have no connection with the Lord!’ So your descendants would stop our descendants from worshiping the Lord. 26 Then we said, ‘Let’s build an altar for ourselves. It will not be for burnt offerings or sacrifices,

23 that we have built for ourselves an altar to turn away from Him. May the Lord Himself hold us accountable if we intended to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings on it, or to sacrifice fellowship offerings on it. 24 We actually did this from a specific concern that in the future your descendants might say to our descendants, ‘What relationship do you have with the Lord, the God of Israel? 25 For the Lord has made the Jordan a border between us and you descendants of Reuben and Gad. You have no share in the Lord!’ So your descendants may cause our descendants to stop fearing the Lord.

26 “Therefore we said: Let us take action and build an altar for ourselves, but not for burnt offering or sacrifice.

23 for building an altar to turn away from following the Lord; or if we did so to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings or offerings of well-being on it, may the Lord himself take vengeance. 24 No! We did it from fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, ‘What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? 25 For the Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you Reubenites and Gadites; you have no portion in the Lord.’ So your children might make our children cease to worship the Lord. 26 Therefore we said, ‘Let us now build an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice,

23 “Have we built our own altar so we can turn away from the Lord? Have we built it to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings on it? Have we built it to sacrifice friendship offerings on it? If we have, may the Lord himself hold us accountable.

24 “No! We built it because we were afraid. Someday your children might speak to our children. We were afraid they might say, ‘What do you have to do with the Lord? What do you have to do with the God of Israel? 25 The Lord has made the Jordan River a border between us and you. You people of Reuben! You people of Gad! You don’t have anything to do with the Lord.’ If your children say that, they might cause our children to stop worshiping the Lord.

26 “That’s why we said to ourselves, ‘Let’s get ready and build an altar. But let’s not build it to offer burnt offerings or sacrifices on it.’

23 “If we have built us an altar to turn away from following the Lord, or if to offer a burnt offering or grain offering on it, or if to offer sacrifices of peace offerings on it, may the Lord Himself require it.

24 “But truly we have done this out of concern, for a reason, saying, ‘In time to come your sons may say to our sons, “What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel?

25 “For the Lord has made the Jordan a border between us and you, you sons of Reuben and sons of Gad; you have no portion in the Lord.” So your sons may make our sons stop fearing the Lord.’

26 “Therefore we said, ‘Let us build an altar, not for burnt offering or for sacrifice;