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¹ Then Yehoshua called the Re'uveni, and the Gadi, and the half-tribe of Menashsheh, ² and said to them, You have kept all that Moshe the servant of the LORD commanded you, and have listened to my voice in all that I commanded you: ³ you have not left your brothers these many days to this day, but have kept the charge of the mitzvah of the LORD your God. ⁴ Now the LORD your God has given rest to your brothers, as he spoke to them: therefore now turn you, and get you to your tents, to the land of your possession, which Moshe the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Yarden. ⁵ Only take diligent heed to do the mitzvah and the law which Moshe the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his mitzvot, and to cleave to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁶ So Yehoshua blessed them, and sent them away; and they went to their tents. ⁷ Now to the one half-tribe of Menashsheh Moshe had given [inheritance] in Bashan; but to the other half gave Yehoshua among their brothers beyond the Yarden westward; moreover when Yehoshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them, ⁸ and spoke to them, saying, Return with much wealth to your tents, and with very much cattle, with silver, and with gold, and with brass, and with iron, and with very much clothing: divide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers. ⁹ The children of Re'uven and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Menashsheh returned, and departed from the children of Yisra'el out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Kana`an, to go to the land of Gil`ad, to the land of their possession, whereof they were possessed, according to the mitzvah of the LORD by Moshe.

¹⁰ When they came to the region about the Yarden, that is in the land of Kana`an, the children of Re'uven and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Menashsheh built there an altar by the Yarden, a great altar to look on. <sup>11</sup> The children of Yisra'el heard say, Behold, the children of Re'uven and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Menashsheh have built an altar in the forefront of the land of Kana`an, in the region about the Yarden, on the side that pertains to the children of Yisra'el. ¹² When the children of Yisra'el heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Yisra'el gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up against them to war. ¹³ The children of Yisra'el sent to the children of Re'uven, and to the children of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Menashsheh, into the land of Gil`ad, Pinechas the son of El`azar the Kohen, ¹⁴ and with him ten princes, one prince of a fathers' house for each of the tribes of Yisra'el; and they were everyone of them head of their fathers' houses among the thousands of Yisra'el. ¹⁵ They came to the children of Re'uven, and to the children of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Menashsheh, to the land of Gil`ad, and they spoke with them, saying, <sup>16</sup> Thus says the whole congregation of the LORD, What trespass is this that you have committed against the God of Yisra'el, to turn away this day from following the LORD, in that you have built you an altar, to rebel this day against the LORD? <sup>17</sup> Is the iniquity of Pe`or too little for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, although there came a plague on the congregation of the LORD, ¹⁸ that you must turn away this day from following the LORD? and it will be, seeing you rebel today against the LORD, that tomorrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Yisra'el. ¹⁹ However, if the land of your possession be unclean, then pass over to the land of the possession of the LORD, in which the LORD's tent dwells, and take possession among us: but don't rebel against the LORD, nor rebel against us, in building you an altar besides the altar of the LORD our God. ²⁰ Didn't `Akhan the son of Zerach commit a trespass in the devoted thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Yisra'el? and that man didn't perish alone in his iniquity.

²¹ Then the children of Re'uven and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Menashsheh answered, and spoke to the heads of the thousands of Yisra'el, ²² The Mighty One, God, the LORD, the Mighty One, God, the LORD, he knows; and Yisra'el he shall know: if it be in rebellion, or if in trespass against the LORD (don't save us this day,) ²³ that we have built us an altar to turn away from following the LORD; or if to offer thereon burnt offering or meal-offering, or if to offer sacrifices of peace-offerings thereon, let the LORD himself require it; ²⁴ and if we have not [rather] out of carefulness done this, [and] of purpose, saying, In time to come your children might speak to our children, saying, What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Yisra'el? ²⁵ for the LORD has made the Yarden a border between us and you, you children of Re'uven and children of Gad; you have no portion in the LORD: so might 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 it shall be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we may 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 tell our children in time to come, You have no portion in the LORD. ²⁸ Therefore said we, It shall be, when they so tell us or to our generations in time to come, that we shall say, Behold the pattern of the altar of the LORD, which our fathers made, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice; but it is a witness between us and you. ²⁹ Far be it from us that we should rebel against the LORD, and turn away this day from following the LORD, to build an altar for burnt-offering, for meal-offering, or for sacrifice, besides the altar of the LORD our God that is before his tent.

³⁰ When Pinechas the Kohen, and the princes of the congregation, even the heads of the thousands of Yisra'el that were with him, heard the words that the children of Re'uven and the children of Gad and the children of Menashsheh spoke, it pleased them well. ³¹ Pinechas the son of El`azar the Kohen said to the children of Re'uven, and to the children of Gad, and to the children of Menashsheh, This day we know that the LORD is in the midst of us, because you have not committed this trespass against the LORD: now have you delivered the children of Yisra'el out of the hand of the LORD. <sup>32</sup> Pinechas the son of El`azar the Kohen, and the princes, returned from the children of Re'uven, and from the children of Gad, out of the land of Gil`ad, to the land of Kana`an, to the children of Yisra'el, and brought them word again. ³³ The thing pleased the children of Yisra'el; and the children of Yisra'el blessed God, and spoke no more of going up against them to war, to destroy the land in which the children of Re'uven and the children of Gad lived. ³⁴ The children of Re'uven and the children of Gad called the altar [`Ed]: For, [said they], it is a witness between us that the LORD is God.