Joshua 22–23

CHAPTER 22

Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh

^1aThen Joshua summoned the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh,

²and said to them, “You have kept all that Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded you ^aand have listened to my voice in all that I commanded you.

³“You have not forsaken your brothers these many days to this day, but have kept the responsibility of the commandment of Yahweh your God.

⁴“And now ^aYahweh your God has given rest to your brothers, as He spoke to them; so now turn and go to your tents, to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of Yahweh gave you beyond the Jordan.

⁵“Only keep yourselves very carefully to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded you, to ^alove Yahweh your God and walk in all His ways and keep His commandments and cling to Him and serve Him ^bwith all your heart and with all your soul.”

⁶Then Joshua ^ablessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents.

⁷Now ^ato the one half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given a possession in Bashan, but ^bto the other half Joshua gave a possession among their brothers westward beyond the Jordan. So when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them,

⁸and spoke to them, saying, “Return to your tents with great riches and with very much livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, iron, and with very many clothes; ^adivide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers.”

⁹Then the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned home and departed from the sons of Israel at Shiloh which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the ^aland of Gilead, to the land of their possession which they had possessed, according to the ¹command of Yahweh by the hand of Moses.

An Altar Called Witness

¹⁰And 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.

¹¹And the sons of Israel heard it ¹said, “Behold, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have ^abuilt an altar at the ²entrance of the land of Canaan, in the region of the Jordan, on the side belonging to the sons of Israel.”

¹²Then the sons of Israel heard of it, and the whole congregation of the sons of Israel assembled themselves at ^aShiloh to go up against them in war.

¹³Then 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, ^aPhinehas the son of Eleazar the priest,

¹⁴and with him ten leaders, one leader for each father’s household from each of the tribes of Israel; and ^aeach one of them was the head of his father’s household among the ¹thousands of Israel.

¹⁵So 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 ^abuilding yourselves an altar, to rebel against Yahweh this day?

¹⁷‘Is ^athe 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?

¹⁸Yet you are turning away this day from following Yahweh. Now it will be that, if you rebel against Yahweh today, ^aHe will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel tomorrow.

¹⁹‘If, however, the land of your possession is unclean, then ¹cross 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 ^abuilding an altar for yourselves, besides the altar of Yahweh our God.

²⁰‘Did not ^aAchan 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.’”

²¹Then 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 ^aMighty One, God, Yahweh, the Mighty One, God, Yahweh! ^bHe 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 ^aperform 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, ¹for a reason, saying, ‘In time to come your sons may say to our ²sons, “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 ¹build an altar, not for burnt offering or for sacrifice;

²⁷rather it shall be ^aa witness between us and you and between our generations after us, that we are to ^bperform 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 ^abuilding an altar for burnt offering, for grain offering or for sacrifice, besides the altar of Yahweh our God which is before His ¹tabernacle.”

³⁰So 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.

³¹And 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 ^aYahweh 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.”

³²Then 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.

³³And the word was good in the sight of the sons of Israel, and the sons of Israel ^ablessed 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.

³⁴And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad ^acalled the altar Witness; “For,” they said, “it is a witness between us that Yahweh is God.”

CHAPTER 23

Joshua Calls All Israel

¹Now it happened after many days, after Yahweh had given ^arest to Israel from all their enemies ¹on every side, and Joshua was old, advanced in years,

²that ^aJoshua called for all Israel, for their elders and their heads and their judges and their officers, and said to them, “I am old, advanced in years.

³“And you have seen all that Yahweh your God has done to all these nations because of you, for ^aYahweh your God is He who has been fighting for you.

⁴“See, ^aI have allotted to you these nations which remain as an inheritance for your tribes, with all the nations which I have cut off, from the Jordan even to the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun.

⁵“And Yahweh your God, He will thrust them out from before you and ^adispossess them before you; and ^byou will possess their land, just as Yahweh your God ¹promised you.

⁶“^aBe very strong, then, to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, so that you may not turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left,

⁷so that you will not go along with these nations, these which remain among you, and you will not ^amention the name of their gods, and you will not ^bmake anyone swear by them, and you will not ^cserve them, and you will not bow down to them.

⁸“But you are to cling to Yahweh your God, as you have done to this day.

⁹“^aFor Yahweh has dispossessed great and mighty nations from before you; and as for you, ^bno man has stood before you to this day.

¹⁰“^aOne of your men will pursue one thousand, for Yahweh your God is ^bHe who fights for you, just as He ¹promised you.

¹¹“So keep your souls very carefully to love Yahweh your God.

¹²“For if you ever turn back and ^acling to the rest of these nations, these which remain among you, and ^bintermarry with them, so that you go along with them and they with you,

¹³know with certainty that Yahweh your God will not continue to dispossess these nations from before you; but they will be a ^asnare and a trap to you and a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which Yahweh your God has given you.

¹⁴“Now behold, today ^aI am going the way of all the earth, and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that ^bnot one word of all the good words which Yahweh your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed.

¹⁵“And it will be that just as all the good words which Yahweh your God spoke to you have come upon you, so ^aYahweh will bring upon you all the calamitous words, until He has destroyed you from off this good land which Yahweh your God has given you.

¹⁶“^aWhen you trespass against the covenant of Yahweh your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of Yahweh will burn against you, and you will perish quickly from off the good land which He has given you.”