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          DASV: Joshua 22    

1 Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, Gadites and the half-tribe
of Manasseh,
2 and said to them, "You have kept all that Moses the servant
of the LORD commanded you, and have also obeyed everything
I have commanded you.
3 You have not abandoned your brothers all during this time
even to this day, but have been careful to keep the charge
the LORD your God gave you.
4 Now the LORD your God has given rest to your brothers,
just as he promised them, now, therefore, turn and go to your
tents in the land of your possession, that Moses, the servant
of the LORD, gave you on the other side of the Jordan River.
5 But be very careful to do the commandment and the law
that Moses, the servant of the LORD, commanded you, to love
the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his
commandments, to hold tightly to him and to serve him with
all your heart and all your soul."
6 So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away; and they went
to their homes.

7 Now Moses had given Bashan to the half-tribe of Manasseh;
but to the other half Joshua had given land with their brothers
on the west side of the Jordan River. When Joshua sent them
away to their homes, he blessed them,
8 and spoke to them, saying, "Return home to your tents with
much wealth and with much cattle, silver, gold, bronze,
iron and a lot of clothing. Split up the spoil of your
enemies with your brothers."
9 So the Reubenites, Gadites and half-tribe of Manasseh returned,
and left the Israelites at Shiloh in the land of Canaan,
to go to the land of Gilead, their own land, which they
had acquired by the LORD's commandment through Moses.

10 When they came to Geliloth near the Jordan River in the
land of Canaan, the Reubenites and Gadites and half-tribe of
Manasseh built a very large altar there by the Jordan River.
11 The Israelites heard, "Look, the Reubenites, Gadites and
half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar at the entrance
of the land of Canaan, at Geliloth near the Jordan River,
on the west side owned by the Israelites."
12 When the Israelites heard about it, the whole Israerlite
community gathered together at Shiloh, to go up to war
against them.
13 The children of Israel sent Phinehas, the son of Eleazar,
the priest, to the Reubenites, Gadites and half-tribe of
Manasseh in the land of Gilead.
14 He was accompanied by ten leaders, one from each of the
tribal families of Israel, every one of them was a family
leader of their clan among Israel.

15 They came to the Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe
of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and they spoke with
them, saying,
16 "This is what the whole community of the LORD says,
'What is this treachery that you have committed against
the God of Israel, by turning away from following the LORD,
by building an altar for yourselves in rebellion against
the LORD this day?
17 Was the sin at Peor not bad enough for us? To this day
we have not been cleansed from that sin, even though a plague
came on the community of the LORD.
18 Yet now are you still turning away from following the LORD?
If you rebel today against the LORD, tomorrow he will be
angry with the whole community of Israel.
19 But now, if the land of your possession is unclean, then
cross over to the LORD's land, where the LORD's tabernacle is
located, and settle down among us. But do not rebel against
the LORD, or us by building another altar besides the sanctioned
altar of the LORD our God.
20 Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit sin concerning the
devoted things, and wrath fell on the whole community of Israel?
He was not the only one who died for his sin.'"

21 Then the Reubenites, Gadites and half-tribe of Manasseh
answered, the leaders of the clans of Israel,
22 "The Mighty One, God, the LORD, the Mighty One, God, the LORD,
he knows the truth and may Israel know it also. If it is
rebellion or treachery against the LORD, do not spare
us today.
23 If we have built an altar to turn away from following the
LORD or if to offer on it burnt offerings, grain offerings
or peace offerings, then may the LORD himself punish us.
24 No, we did this because we feared that in the future your
children would say to our children, 'What do you have to do
with the LORD, the God of Israel?
25 The LORD has made the Jordan River a boundary between us
and you, Reubenites and Gadites. You have no portion in the LORD.'
So your children might force our children to stop fearing the LORD."
26 Therefore we thought, 'Let us build an altar, not for a burnt
offering, or for sacrifice;
27 but as a memorial between us and you, and between our
generations after us, that we may worship the LORD at his
sanctuary with our burnt offerings, sacrifices and peace offerings.
So that your children may not say to our children in time
to come, 'You have no part in the worship of the LORD.'
28 Therefore we said, 'It will be, when they say to us or to
our descendants in the future, that we will respond, "Look the
pattern of the altar of the LORD our fathers made, not for burnt
offering or sacrifice, but as a reminder between us and you."
29 There is no way we want to rebel against the LORD, and turn
away today from following the LORD, or to build an altar
for burnt offering, grain offering or sacrifice in place
of the altar of the LORD our God that is located at his
tabernacle.'"

30 When Phinehas the priest, and the leaders of the community,
the leaders of the clans of Israel that were with him,
heard the defense of Reubenites, Gadites and Manassites,
they were satisfied.
31 Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the Reubenites,
Gadites and Manassites, "This day we know that the LORD is
in the midst of us, because you have not committed this
treachery against the LORD. Now you have rescued the
Israelites from the LORD's hand of judgment."

32 Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the priest, and the
leaders left the Reubenites and Gadites, from the land of
Gilead, and returned to the land of Canaan, and brought
back a report to the Israelites.
33 The matter pleased the Israelites and they praised God.
They said no more about going up against them in war,
to destroy the land where the Reubenites and Gadites lived.
34 So the Reubenites and Gadites called the altar "Witness"
for they said, "It is a witness between us that the LORD is God."

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