King James VersionJoshua22

Joshua

1 Then Joshua called the Reuben­ites, and the Ga­dites, and the half tribe of Man­asseh, 2 And said unto them, Ye have kept all that Moses the ser­vant of the LORD com­mand­ed you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I com­mand­ed you: 3 Ye have not left your brethren these many days unto this day, but have kept the charge of the com­mand­ment of the LORD your God. 4 And now the LORD your God hath giv­en rest unto your brethren, as he promised them: there­fore now re­turn ye, and get you unto your tents, and unto the land of your pos­ses­sion, which Moses the ser­vant of the LORD gave you on the oth­er side Jor­dan. 5 But take dili­gent heed to do the com­mand­ment and the law, which Moses the ser­vant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his com­mand­ments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. 6 So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away: and they went unto their tents. 7 Now to the one half of the tribe of Man­asseh Moses had giv­en possession in Bashan: but unto the other half there­of gave Joshua among their brethren on this side Jor­dan west­ward. And when Joshua sent them away also unto their tents, then he blessed them, 8 And he spake unto them, say­ing, Re­turn with much rich­es unto your tents, and with very much cat­tle, with sil­ver, and with gold, and with brass, and with iron, and with very much rai­ment: di­vide the spoil of your en­e­mies with your brethren. 9 And the chil­dren of Reuben and the chil­dren of Gad and the half tribe of Man­asseh re­turned, and de­part­ed from the chil­dren of Is­rael out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go unto the coun­try of Gilead, to the land of their pos­ses­sion, where­of they were pos­sessed, ac­cord­ing to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses. 10 And when they came unto the bor­ders of Jor­dan, that are in the land of Canaan, the chil­dren of Reuben and the chil­dren of Gad and the half tribe of Man­asseh built there an al­tar by Jor­dan, a great al­tar to see to. 11 And the chil­dren of Is­rael heard say, Be­hold, the chil­dren of Reuben and the chil­dren of Gad and the half tribe of Man­asseh have built an al­tar over against the land of Canaan, in the bor­ders of Jor­dan, at the pas­sage of the chil­dren of Is­rael. 12 And when the chil­dren of Is­rael heard of it, the whole con­gre­ga­tion of the chil­dren of Is­rael gath­ered them­selves to­geth­er at Shiloh, to go up to war against them. 13 And the chil­dren of Is­rael sent unto the chil­dren of Reuben, and to the chil­dren of Gad, and to the half tribe of Man­asseh, into the land of Gilead, Phine­has the son of Eleazar the priest, 14 And with him ten princes, of each chief house a prince through­out all the tribes of Is­rael; and each one was an head of the house of their fa­thers among the thou­sands of Is­rael. 15 And they came unto the chil­dren of Reuben, and to the chil­dren of Gad, and to the half tribe of Man­asseh, unto the land of Gilead, and they spake with them, say­ing, 16 Thus saith the whole con­gre­ga­tion of the LORD, What tres­pass is this that ye have com­mit­ted against the God of Is­rael, to turn away this day from fol­low­ing the LORD, in that ye have build­ed you an al­tar, that ye might rebel this day against the LORD? 17 Is the in­iq­ui­ty of Peor too lit­tle for us, from which we are not cleansed un­til this day, al­though there was a plague in the con­gre­ga­tion of the LORD, 18 But that ye must turn away this day from fol­low­ing the LORD? and it will be, seeing ye rebel to day against the LORD, that to mor­row he will be wroth with the whole con­gre­ga­tion of Is­rael. 19 Notwith­stand­ing, if the land of your pos­ses­sion be un­clean, then pass ye over unto the land of the pos­ses­sion of the LORD, where­in the LORD'S taber­na­cle dwelleth, and take pos­ses­sion among us: but rebel not against the LORD, nor rebel against us, in build­ing you an al­tar be­side the al­tar of the LORD our God. 20 Did not Achan the son of Zer­ah com­mit a tres­pass in the ac­cursed thing, and wrath fell on all the con­gre­ga­tion of Is­rael? and that man per­ished not alone in his in­iq­ui­ty. 21 Then the chil­dren of Reuben and the chil­dren of Gad and the half tribe of Man­asseh an­swered, and said unto the heads of the thou­sands of Is­rael, 22 The LORD God of gods, the LORD God of gods, he knoweth, and Is­rael he shall know; if it be in re­bel­lion, or if in trans­gres­sion against the LORD, (save us not this day,) 23 That we have built us an al­tar to turn from fol­low­ing the LORD, or if to of­fer there­on burnt of­fer­ing or meat of­fer­ing, or if to of­fer peace of­fer­ings there­on, let the LORD him­self re­quire it; 24 And if we have not rather done it for fear of this thing, say­ing, In time to come your chil­dren might speak unto our chil­dren, say­ing, What have ye to do with the LORD God of Is­rael? 25 For the LORD hath made Jor­dan a bor­der be­tween us and you, ye chil­dren of Reuben and chil­dren of Gad; ye have no part in the LORD: so shall your chil­dren make our chil­dren cease from fear­ing the LORD. 26 There­fore we said, Let us now pre­pare to build us an al­tar, not for burnt of­fer­ing, nor for sac­ri­fice: 27 But that it ­may be a wit­ness be­tween us, and you, and our gen­er­a­tions af­ter us, that we might do the ser­vice of the LORD be­fore him with our burnt of­fer­ings, and with our sac­ri­fices, and with our peace of­fer­ings; that your chil­dren may not say to our chil­dren in time to come, Ye have no part in the LORD. 28 There­fore said we, that it shall be, when they should so say to us or to our gen­er­a­tions in time to come, that we may say again, Be­hold the pat­tern of the al­tar of the LORD, which our fa­thers made, not for burnt of­fer­ings, nor for sac­ri­fices; but it is a wit­ness be­tween us and you. 29 God for­bid that we should rebel against the LORD, and turn this day from fol­low­ing the LORD, to build an al­tar for burnt of­fer­ings, for meat of­fer­ings, or for sac­ri­fices, be­side the al­tar of the LORD our God that is be­fore his taber­na­cle. 30 And when Phine­has the priest, and the princes of the con­gre­ga­tion and heads of the thou­sands of Is­rael which were with him, heard the words that the chil­dren of Reuben and the chil­dren of Gad and the chil­dren of Man­asseh spake, it pleased them. 31 And Phine­has the son of Eleazar the priest said unto the chil­dren of Reuben, and to the chil­dren of Gad, and to the chil­dren of Man­asseh, This day we per­ceive that the LORD is among us, be­cause ye have not com­mit­ted this tres­pass against the LORD: now ye have de­liv­ered the chil­dren of Is­rael out of the hand of the LORD. 32 And Phine­has the son of Eleazar the priest, and the princes, re­turned from the chil­dren of Reuben, and from the chil­dren of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, unto the land of Canaan, to the chil­dren of Is­rael, and brought them word again. 33 And the thing pleased the chil­dren of Is­rael; and the chil­dren of Is­rael blessed God, and did not in­tend to go up against them in bat­tle, to de­stroy the land where­in the chil­dren of Reuben and Gad dwelt. 34 And the chil­dren of Reuben and the chil­dren of Gad called the al­tar Ed: for it shall be a wit­ness be­tween us that the LORD is God.