Joshua 22:16-30

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

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

¹⁸And you° have this day revolted from the Lord; and it shall come to pass if you° revolt this day from the Lord, that to-morrow 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 you° an inheritance amongst us; and do not become apostates from God, neither do you° apostatize from the Lord, because of your having built an altar apart from the altar of the Lord our God.

²⁰Behold! did not Achar the son of Zara 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 Ruben, and the sons of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasse 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 you° to do with the Lord God of Israel?

²⁵Whereas the Lord has set boundaries between us and you, even Jordan, and you° 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, You° have no portion in the Lord.

²⁸And we said, If ever it should come to pass that they should speak so to us, or to our posterity hereafter; then shall they say, Behold the likeness of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for the sake of burnt offerings, nor for the sake of meat-offerings, but it is a witness between you and us, and between our sons.

²⁹Far be it from us therefore that we should turn away from the Lord this day so as to apostatize from the Lord, so as that we should build an altar for burnt offerings, and for peace-offerings, besides the altar of the Lord which is before his tabernacle.

³⁰And Phinees the priest and all the chiefs of the congregation of Israel who were with him heard the words which the children of Ruben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasse spoke; and it pleased them.