Eastern Tribes Return Home

22 Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh 2 and said to them, “You have done all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded,l and you have obeyed me in everything I commanded. 3 For a long time now—to this very day—you have not deserted your fellow Israelites but have carried out the mission the Lord your God gave you. 4 Now that the Lord your God has given them restm as he promised, return to your homesn in the land that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan.o 5 But be very careful to keep the commandmentp and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lordq your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands,r to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.s”

6 Then Joshua blessedt them and sent them away, and they went to their homes. 7 (To the half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given land in Bashan,u and to the other half of the tribe Joshua gave land on the west sidev of the Jordan along with their fellow Israelites.) When Joshua sent them home, he blessed them,w 8 saying, “Return to your homes with your great wealth—with large herds of livestock,x with silver, gold, bronze and iron,y and a great quantity of clothing—and dividez the plundera from your enemies with your fellow Israelites.”

9 So the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shilohb in Canaan to return to Gilead,c their own land, which they had acquired in accordance with the command of the Lord through Moses.

10 When they came to Gelilothd near the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an imposing altare there by the Jordan. 11 And when the Israelites heard that they had built the altar on the border of Canaan at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side, 12 the whole assembly of Israel gathered at Shilohf to go to war against them.

13 So the Israelites sent Phinehasg son of Eleazar,h the priest, to the land of Gilead—to Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh. 14 With him they sent ten of the chief men, one from each of the tribes of Israel, each the head of a family division among the Israelite clans.i

15 When they went to Gilead—to Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh—they said to them: 16 “The whole assembly of the Lord says: ‘How could you break faithj with the God of Israel like this? How could you turn away from the Lord and build yourselves an altar in rebellionk against him now? 17 Was not the sin of Peorl enough for us? Up to this very day we have not cleansed ourselves from that sin, even though a plague fell on the community of the Lord! 18 And are you now turning away from the Lord?

“ ‘If you rebel against the Lord today, tomorrow he will be angry with the whole communitym of Israel. 19 If the land you possess is defiled, come over to the Lord’s land, where the Lord’s tabernaclen stands, and share the land with us. But do not rebel against the Lord or against us by building an altaro for yourselves, other than the altar of the Lord our God. 20 When Achan son of Zerah was unfaithful in regard to the devoted things,a p did not wrathq come on the whole communityr of Israel? He was not the only one who died for his sin.’ ”s

21 Then Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh replied to the heads of the clans of Israel: 22 “The Mighty One, God, the Lord! The Mighty One, God,t the Lord!u He knows!v And let Israel know! If this has been in rebellion or disobedience to the Lord, do not spare us this day. 23 If we have built our own altar to turn away from the Lord and to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings,w or to sacrifice fellowship offerings on it, may the Lord himself call us to account.x

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.’ 27 On the contrary, it is to be a witnessy between us and you and the generations that follow, that we will worship the Lord at his sanctuary with our burnt offerings, sacrifices and fellowship offerings.z Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to ours, ‘You have no share in the Lord.’

28 “And we said, ‘If they ever say this to us, or to our descendants, we will answer: Look at the replica of the Lord’s altar, which our ancestors built, not for burnt offerings and sacrifices, but as a witnessa between us and you.’

29 “Far be it from us to rebelb against the Lord and turn away from him today by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings and sacrifices, other than the altar of the Lord our God that stands before his tabernacle.c”

30 When Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the community—the heads of the clans of the Israelites—heard what Reuben, Gad and Manasseh had to say, they were pleased. 31 And Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, said to Reuben, Gad and Manasseh, “Today we know that the Lord is with us,d because you have not been unfaithful to the Lord in this matter. Now you have rescued the Israelites from the Lord’s hand.”

32 Then Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, and the leaders returned to Canaan from their meeting with the Reubenites and Gadites in Gilead and reported to the Israelites.e 33 They were glad to hear the report and praised God.f And they talked no more about going to war against them to devastate the country where the Reubenites and the Gadites lived.

34 And the Reubenites and the Gadites gave the altar this name: A Witnessg Between Us—that the Lord is God.

Joshua’s Farewell to the Leaders

23 After a long time had passed and the Lord had given Israel resth from all their enemies around them, Joshua, by then a very old man,i 2 summoned all Israel—their elders,j leaders, judges and officialsk—and said to them: “I am very old.l 3 You yourselves have seen everything the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake; it was the Lord your God who fought for you.m 4 Remember how I have allottedn as an inheritanceo for your tribes all the land of the nations that remain—the nations I conquered—between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Seap in the west. 5 The Lord your God himself will push them outq for your sake. He will drive them outr before you, and you will take possession of their land, as the Lord your God promised you.s

6 “Be very strong; be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the Lawt of Moses, without turning asideu to the right or to the left.v 7 Do not associate with these nations that remain among you; do not invoke the names of their gods or swearw by them. You must not serve them or bow downx to them. 8 But you are to hold fast to the Lordy your God, as you have until now.

9 “The Lord has driven out before you great and powerful nations;z to this day no one has been able to withstand you.a 10 One of you routs a thousand,b because the Lord your God fights for you,c just as he promised. 11 So be very carefuld to love the Lorde your God.

12 “But if you turn away and ally yourselves with the survivors of these nations that remain among you and if you intermarry with themf and associate with them,g 13 then you may be sure that the Lord your God will no longer drive outh these nations before you. Instead, they will become snaresi and traps for you, whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes,j until you perish from this good land,k which the Lord your God has given you.

14 “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth.l You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promisem has been fulfilled; not one has failed.n 15 But just as all the good thingso the Lord your God has promised you have come to you, so he will bring on you all the evil thingsp he has threatened, until the Lord your God has destroyed youq from this good land he has given you.r 16 If you violate the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you.s”

The Covenant Renewed at Shechem

24 Then Joshua assembledt all the tribes of Israel at Shechem.u He summonedv the elders,w leaders, judges and officials of Israel,x and they presented themselves before God.

2 Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor,y lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods.z 3 But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaana and gave him many descendants.b I gave him Isaac,c 4 and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau.d I assigned the hill country of Seire to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt.f

5 “ ‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron,g and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out.h 6 When I brought your people out of Egypt, you came to the sea,i and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemena j as far as the Red Sea.b k 7 But they criedl to the Lord for help, and he put darknessm between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them.n You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians.o Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.p

8 “ ‘I brought you to the land of the Amoritesq who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land.r 9 When Balak son of Zippor,s the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beort to put a curse on