1 Then Joshua sent for {yikra: summoned} the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe {matteh: tribal division} of Manasseh.
2 He said to them, “You have carefully kept {shamar: careful observance} all that Moses, the servant of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant King} commanded you, and you have obeyed my voice in everything I directed you.”
3 You have not forsaken your brothers through all these many days, even to this day; instead, you have kept the charge {mishmeret: entrusted responsibility} of the commandment of the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikhem, Covenant Commander}.
4 And now the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheichem, Covenant Fulfiller} has given rest to your brothers, just as He spoke to them. So turn back now and go to your tents, to the land of your possession {achuzah: Allotted Inheritance}, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan.
5 Only be very diligent to carry out the commandment {mitzvah: binding directive} and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Lord} charged you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to cleave to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
6 Then Joshua {Yehoshua: Divinely Appointed Leader} blessed them, sent them away, and they went to their tents {aholeihem: dwelling places}.
7 Now Moses gave {natan: distributed} a possession in Bashan to one half of the tribe of Manasseh, but Joshua gave the other half an inheritance with their brothers on this side of the Jordan, toward the west. And when Joshua sent them to their tents, he also blessed {yevarechem: conferred favor} them.
8 And he charged them, “Return to your tents carrying many possessions {binchasim: movable wealth} and very abundant herds {mikneh: livestock holdings}, with silver, gold, bronze, iron, and a very large supply of garments. Share out the booty from your enemies with your brothers.”
9 So the sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the people of Israel at Shiloh in the land of Canaan and went to Gilead, to the territory {akhuzatam: inherited holding} they possessed by the command of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Promise-Keeper} through Moses.
10 Upon arriving at the Jordan borderlands in the land of Canaan, the sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar {mizbeach: sacrificial platform} by the Jordan—large {gadol: imposing size} and set conspicuously.
11 And the sons of Israel {Yisra’el: covenant people} heard it declared, “Behold, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have erected an altar {mizbeach: place of sacrifice} facing the land of Canaan, in the region of the Jordan, on the side belonging to Israel.”
12 When the sons of Israel heard, the whole congregation{kahal: public gathering} of the sons of Israel assembled at Shiloh to go up to war{tsava: organized military campaign} against them.
13 And Israel’s people sent Phinehas {Pinchas: covenant zeal}, son of Eleazar the priest, to the Reubenites, to the Gadites, and to the half tribe {chatzi: partial division} of Manasseh in the land of Gilead.
14 With him were ten nesi'im {nesi'im: tribal representatives}, one chief from each of the tribes of Israel; each man was the head of his father’s household {beit-avotam: ancestral household} among the thousands of Israel.
15 They approached the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half-tribe {chatzi shevet: tribal subdivision} of Manasseh in the land {eretz: allotted territory} of Gilead, and they addressed them, saying:
16 Thus declares the whole assembly of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Judge}: “What is this breach of faith {ma‘al: act of faithlessness} you have done against the God of Israel, that today you turn away from following the LORD by building an altar for yourselves and rebel against the LORD?”
17 Is the sin {avon: moral guilt} of Peor so trivial for us that we have not purified ourselves from it even to this day? Then a plague came upon the congregation of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Judge}.
18 Are you turning aside today from after the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Guardian}? If you rebel today against the LORD, tomorrow He will be angry with the whole congregation {adat: assembly of witnesses} of Israel.
19 But if the land in your possession is unclean, then cross into the land of the LORD {YHWH, Land Possessor} where the tabernacle {mishkan: holy dwelling} of the LORD stands, and take a possession among us. Only do not rebel against the LORD or against us by building an altar besides the altar of the LORD our God.
20 Was it not Achan son of Zerah who acted unfaithfully {maal: committed a breach of trust} regarding the devoted thing, so that fierce anger {qatsep: intense wrath} fell on the whole assembly of Israel? He was only one man, yet he did not perish alone in his iniquity.
21 Then the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad, along with the half-tribe {hatzi: split contingent} of Manasseh, answered and spoke to the clan heads {alfei: social units} of Israel.
22 God {El, Supreme Witness}, God {Elohim, Sovereign Judge}, the LORD {YHWH, Ever-Faithful One}—God, God, the LORD—He knows, and Israel shall know. If this was rebellion or treachery against the LORD, do not spare us this day.
23 If we erected an altar for ourselves to turn away from following the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Judge}, or if we intended to offer upon it a burnt offering or a grain offering, or to bring peace offerings {shelamim: wholeness offerings}, then let the LORD Himself require it from us.
24 No, we did this out of concern {midde’agah: deep anxiety} about a matter, saying, “In days to come your sons may say to our sons, ‘What is it to you and to the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Guardian}, the God of Israel?’”
25 The LORD {YHWH, Boundary Setter} has set the Jordan as a boundary {gevul: dividing line} between us and you, sons of Reuben and sons of Gad. You have no share in the LORD, and your sons will make our sons cease to fear the LORD.
26 So we said, “Let us now build an altar {mizbeach: Ritual Platform} for ourselves—not for burnt offering {olah: Wholly Consumed Sacrifice}, and not for sacrifice.”
27 Rather, it is a witness between us and you and between our generations after us, so that we may serve the LORD {YHWH, Worship Recipient} before Him with our burnt offerings, our sacrifices, and our peace offerings, that your sons may not say to our sons in days to come, “You have no portion {chelek: covenant share} in the LORD.”
28 And we said, “If in the future they speak to us or to our generations, we will say, ‘Look at the model {tavnit: architectural plan} of the altar of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Witness} that our fathers made—not for burnt offerings nor for sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you.’”
29 Far be it from us to rebel against the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Guardian} or to turn away today from following Him by erecting a rival altar {millevad: unauthorized shrine} for burnt offerings, grain offerings, or sacrifices, apart from the altar of the LORD our God that stands before His tabernacle.
30 Phinehas the priest, with the assembly’s princes {nesiei: community leaders} and the chiefs of Israel’s thousands who were with him, heard the words spoken by the sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad, and the sons of Manasseh, and the report met with favor {vayitav: favourable response}.
31 And Phinehas 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 the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Witness} is in our midst because you have not committed this act of treachery {ma’al: covenant betrayal} against the LORD. Now you have delivered the people of Israel from the hand of the LORD.”
32 Then Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest {kohen: mediator} and the leaders returned from the descendants of Reuben and Gad in the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the Israelites, and they carried back a report {davar: official message}.
33 And the matter was good in the eyes of the sons of Israel, and the sons of Israel blessed God{Elohim, Giver of Peace} and no longer spoke of going up against them in battle to destroy the land{haaretz: settled territory} where the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad were living.
34 The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad named the altar Ed {ed: covenant testimony}, saying, “For it is a witness between us that the LORD {YHWH, Sustainer of Unity} is God.”