Joshua 22:11-27

¹¹And the children of Israel heard say, Behold, the sons of Reuben, and the sons of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar at the borders of the land of Canaan at Gilead of Jordan, on the opposite side to the children of Israel.

¹²And all the children of Israel gathered together to Shiloh, so as to go up and fight against them.

¹³And the children of Israel sent to the sons of Reuben, and the sons of Gad, and to the sons of the half tribe of Manasseh into the land of Gilead, both Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest,

¹⁴and ten of the chiefs with him; there was one chief of every household out of all the tribes of Israel (the heads of families are the captains of thousands in Israel).

¹⁵And they came to the sons of Reuben, and to the sons of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh into the land of Gilead; and they spoke to them, saying,

¹⁶Thus says the whole congregation of the Lord, What is this transgression that ye have transgressed before the God of Israel, to turn away today from the Lord, in that ye have built for yourselves an altar, so that ye should be apostates from the Lord?

¹⁷Is the sin of Peor too little for you, whereas we have not been cleansed from it until this day, though there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord?

¹⁸And ye have this day revolted from the Lord; and it shall come to pass if ye revolt this day from the Lord, that tomorrow there shall be wrath upon all Israel.

¹⁹And now if the land of your possession be too little, cross over to the land of the possession of the Lord, where the tabernacle of the Lord dwells, and receive ye an inheritance among us; and do not become apostates from God, neither do ye apostatize from the Lord, because of your having built an altar apart from the altar of the Lord our God.

²⁰Lo! did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass taking of the accursed thing, and there was wrath on the whole congregation of Israel? and he himself died alone in his own sin.

²¹And the sons of Reuben, and the sons of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh answered, and spoke to the captains of the thousands of Israel, saying,

²²God even God is the Lord, and God even God himself knows, and Israel he shall know; if we have transgressed before the Lord by apostasy, let him not deliver us this day.

²³And if we have built to ourselves an altar, so as to apostatize from the Lord our God, so as to offer upon it a sacrifice of whole burnt offerings, so as to offer upon it a sacrifice of peace offering—the Lord shall require it.

²⁴But we have done this for the sake of precaution concerning this thing, saying, Lest hereafter your sons should say to our sons, What have ye to do with the Lord God of Israel?

²⁵Whereas the Lord has set boundaries between us and you, even Jordan, and ye have no portion in the Lord: so your sons shall alienate our sons, that they should not worship the Lord.

²⁶And we gave orders to do thus, to build this altar, not for burnt offerings, nor for meat offerings;

²⁷but that this may be a witness between you and us, and between our posterity after us, that we may do service to the Lord before him, with our burnt offerings and our meat offerings and our peace offerings: so your sons shall not say to our sons, hereafter, Ye have no portion in the Lord.