Joshua 22:24

THE MESSAGE

"But that's not it. We did it because we cared. We were anxious lest someday your children should say to our children, ‘You're not connected with God , the God of Israel! God made the Jordan a boundary between us and you. You Reubenites and Gadites have no part in God .' And then your children might cause our children to quit worshiping God .

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
We actually did this from a specific concern that in the future your descendants might say to our descendants, ‘What relationship do you have with the Lord, the God of Israel?

Hebrew Names Version
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?

King James Version
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?

Lexham English Bible
But in fact, we have done this because of anxiety, because of a reason, saying, ‘In the future your children may say to our children, ‘What is the relationship between you and Yahweh the God of Israel?

English Standard Version
No, but we did it from fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, ‘What have you to do with the Lord , the God of Israel?

New Century Version
"We did not build it for that reason. We feared that someday your people would not accept us as part of your nation. Then they might say, ‘You cannot worship the Lord , the God of Israel.

New English Translation
We swear we have done this because we were worried that in the future your descendants would say to our descendants, ‘What relationship do you have with the Lord God of Israel?

Amplified Bible
"But in truth we have done this out of concern, for a reason, saying, 'In time to come your sons (descendants) may say to our sons, "What claim do you have to the LORD, the God of Israel?

New American Standard Bible
"But truly we have done this out of concern, for a reason, saying, 'In time to come your sons may say to our sons, "What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?

Geneva Bible (1587)
And if we haue not rather done it for feare of this thing, saying, In time to come your children might say vnto our children, What haue ye to doe with the Lord God of Israel?

Legacy Standard Bible
But truly we have done this out of concern, for a reason, saying, ‘In time to come your sons may say to our sons, "What have you to do with Yahweh, the God of Israel?

Contemporary English Version
We built that altar because we were worried. Someday your descendants might tell our descendants, "The Lord made the Jordan River the boundary between us Israelites and you people of Reuben and Gad. The Lord is Israel's God, but you're not part of Israel, so you can't take part in worshiping the Lord ." Your descendants might say that and try to make our descendants stop worshiping and obeying the Lord .

Complete Jewish Bible
Rather, we did this out of anxiety, because we thought, ‘Sometime in the future, your descendants might say to our descendants, "You don't have anything to do with Adonai , the God of Isra'el,

Darby Translation
and if we have not done it from fear of this thing, saying, In future your children will speak to our children, saying, What have ye to do with Jehovah the God of Israel?

Easy-to-Read Version
But that is not why we built it. We built it because we were afraid that in the future your descendants might not accept us as part of God's people. So your children might say to our children, ‘You people have no reason to worship the Lord , the God of Israel.

George Lamsa Translation
And if we have not rather done this thing because of reverence to him, so that in time to come your children might not say to our children, What have you to do with the LORD God of Israel, O you Reubenites and Gadites?

Good News Translation
No! We did it because we were afraid that in the future your descendants would say to ours, ‘What do you have to do with the Lord , the God of Israel?

Literal Translation
But surely from anxiety, for a reason, we have done this, saying, In the future your sons shall speak to our sons, saying, What is to you and to Jehovah the God of Israel?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And yf we haue not done it rather for very feare of this thinge, and sayde: To daye or tomorow mighte youre children saye vnto oure children: What haue ye to do with the LORDE the God of Israel?

American Standard Version
and if we have not rather out of carefulness done this, and of purpose, saying, In time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying, What have ye to do with Jehovah, the God of Israel?

Bible in Basic English
And if we have not, in fact, done this designedly and with purpose, having in our minds the fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And yf we haue not rather done it for feare of this thyng, saying, In tyme to come your chyldren myght say vnto ours: What haue you to do with the Lorde God of Israel?

JPS Old Testament (1917)
and if we have not rather out of anxiety about a matter done this, saying: In time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying: What have ye to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?

King James Version (1611)
And if we haue not rather done it for feare of this thing, saying, In time to come your children might speake vnto our children, saying, What haue you to doe with the Lord God of Israel?

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
But 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?

English Revised Version
and if we have not rather out of carefulness done this, and of purpose, saying, In time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying, What have ye to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?

Berean Standard Bible
But in fact we have done this for fear that in the future your descendants might say to ours, 'What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and not more `bi that thouyt and tretyng that we seiden, Youre sones schulen seie `to morew to oure sones, What is to you and to the Lord God of Israel? Ye sones of Ruben,

Young's Literal Translation
`And if not, from fear of [this] thing we have done it, saying, Hereafter your sons do speak to ours sons, saying, What to you and to Jehovah God of Israel?

Update Bible Version
And if we have not [rather] out of carefulness done this, [and] of purpose, saying, In time to come your sons might speak to our sons, saying, What do you have to do with Yahweh, the God of Israel?

Webster's Bible Translation
And if we have not [rather] done it for fear of [this] thing, saying, In time to come your children may speak to our children, saying, What have ye to do with the LORD God of Israel?

World English Bible
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 Yahweh, the God of Israel?

New King James Version
But in fact we have done it for fear, for a reason, saying, "In time to come your descendants may speak to our descendants, saying, "What have you to do with the LORD God of Israel?

New Living Translation
"The truth is, we have built this altar because we fear that in the future your descendants will say to ours, ‘What right do you have to worship the Lord , the God of Israel?

New Life Bible
We have done this because we were afraid that in time to come your children might say to our children, ‘What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel?

New Revised Standard
No! We did it from fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, ‘What have you to do with the Lord , the God of Israel?

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
if, indeed, we have not, rather, out of anxiety and of purpose, done this thing, saying, - . In time to come, your sons might speak to our sons, saying, What have ye to do with Yahweh, God of Israel;

Douay-Rheims Bible
And not rather with this thought and design, that we should say: To morrow your children will say to our children: What have you to do with the Lord the God of Israel?

Revised Standard Version
Nay, but we did it from fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, 'What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"But truly we have done this out of concern, for a reason, saying, 'In time to come your sons may say to our sons, "What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?

Contextual Overview

²¹The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh replied to the heads of the tribes of Israel: The God of Gods is God , The God of Gods is God ! "He knows and he'll let Israel know if this is a rebellious betrayal of God . And if it is, don't bother saving us. If we built ourselves an altar in rebellion against God , if we did it to present on it Whole-Burnt-Offerings or Grain-Offerings or to enact there sacrificial Peace-Offerings, let God decide. "But that's not it. We did it because we cared. We were anxious lest someday your children should say to our children, ‘You're not connected with God , the God of Israel! God made the Jordan a boundary between us and you. You Reubenites and Gadites have no part in God .' And then your children might cause our children to quit worshiping God . "So we said to ourselves, ‘Let's do something. Let's build an altar—but not for Whole-Burnt-Offerings, not for sacrifices.' "We built this altar as a witness between us and you and our children coming after us, a witness to the Altar where we worship God in his Sacred Dwelling with our Whole-Burnt-Offerings and our sacrifices and our Peace-Offerings. "This way, your children won't be able to say to our children in the future, ‘You have no part in God .' "We said to ourselves, ‘If anyone speaks disparagingly to us or to our children in the future, we'll say: Look at this model of God 's Altar which our ancestors made. It's not for Whole-Burnt-Offerings, not for sacrifices. It's a witness connecting us with you.' "Rebelling against or turning our backs on God is the last thing on our minds right now. We never dreamed of building an altar for Whole-Burnt-Offerings or Grain-Offerings to rival the Altar of our God in front of his Sacred Dwelling." Phinehas the priest, all the heads of the congregation, and the heads of the military divisions of Israel who were also with him heard what the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had to say. They were satisfied. Priest Phinehas son of Eleazar said to Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, "Now we're convinced that God is present with us since you haven't been disloyal to God in this matter. You saved the People of Israel from God 's discipline." Then Priest Phinehas son of Eleazar left the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (from Gilead) and, with the chiefs, returned to the land of Canaan to the People of Israel and gave a full report. They were pleased with the report. The People of Israel blessed God—there was no more talk of attacking and destroying the land in which the Reubenites and Gadites were living. Reuben and Gad named the altar: A Witness Between Us. God Alone Is God. ²³ Then Joshua called together the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. He said: "You have carried out everything Moses the servant of God commanded you, and you have obediently done everything I have commanded you. All this time and right down to this very day you have not abandoned your brothers; you've shouldered the task laid on you by God , your God. And now God , your God, has given rest to your brothers just as he promised them. You're now free to go back to your homes, the country of your inheritance that Moses the servant of God gave you on the other side of the Jordan. Only this: Be vigilant in keeping the Commandment and The Revelation that Moses the servant of God laid on you: Love God , your God, walk in all his ways, do what he's commanded, embrace him, serve him with everything you are and have." Then Joshua blessed them and sent them on their way. They went home. (To the half-tribe of Manasseh, Moses had assigned a share in Bashan. To the other half, Joshua assigned land with their brothers west of the Jordan.) When Joshua sent them off to their homes, he blessed them. He said: "Go home. You're going home rich—great herds of cattle, silver and gold, bronze and iron, huge piles of clothing. Share the wealth with your friends and families—all this plunder from your enemies!" The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the People of Israel at Shiloh in the land of Canaan to return to Gilead, the land of their possession, which they had taken under the command of Moses as ordered by God . They arrived at Geliloth on the Jordan (touching on Canaanite land). There the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar on the banks of the Jordan—a huge altar! The People of Israel heard of it: "What's this? The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar facing the land of Canaan at Geliloth on the Jordan, across from the People of Israel!" When the People of Israel heard this, the entire congregation mustered at Shiloh to go to war against them. They sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (that is, to the land of Gilead). Accompanying him were ten chiefs, one chief for each of the ten tribes, each the head of his ancestral family. They represented the military divisions of Israel. They went to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh and spoke to them: "The entire congregation of God wants to know: What is this violation against the God of Israel that you have committed, turning your back on God and building your own altar—a blatant act of rebellion against God ? Wasn't the crime of Peor enough for us? Why, to this day we aren't rid of it, still living with the fallout of the plague on the congregation of God ! Look at you—turning your back on God ! If you rebel against God today, tomorrow he'll vent his anger on all of us, the entire congregation of Israel. "If you think the land of your possession isn't holy enough but somehow contaminated, come back over to God 's possession, where God 's Dwelling is set up, and take your land there, but don't rebel against God . And don't rebel against us by building your own altar apart from the Altar of our God . When Achan son of Zerah violated the holy curse, didn't anger fall on the whole congregation of Israel? He wasn't the only one to die for his sin." The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh replied to the heads of the tribes of Israel: The God of Gods is God , The God of Gods is God ! "He knows and he'll let Israel know if this is a rebellious betrayal of God . And if it is, don't bother saving us. If we built ourselves an altar in rebellion against God , if we did it to present on it Whole-Burnt-Offerings or Grain-Offerings or to enact there sacrificial Peace-Offerings, let God decide. ²⁴"But that's not it. We did it because we cared. We were anxious lest someday your children should say to our children, ‘You're not connected with God , the God of Israel! God made the Jordan a boundary between us and you. You Reubenites and Gadites have no part in God .' And then your children might cause our children to quit worshiping God . ²⁶ "So we said to ourselves, ‘Let's do something. Let's build an altar—but not for Whole-Burnt-Offerings, not for sacrifices.' ²⁷ "We built this altar as a witness between us and you and our children coming after us, a witness to the Altar where we worship God in his Sacred Dwelling with our Whole-Burnt-Offerings and our sacrifices and our Peace-Offerings. "This way, your children won't be able to say to our children in the future, ‘You have no part in God .' ²⁸ "We said to ourselves, ‘If anyone speaks disparagingly to us or to our children in the future, we'll say: Look at this model of God 's Altar which our ancestors made. It's not for Whole-Burnt-Offerings, not for sacrifices. It's a witness connecting us with you.' ²⁹ "Rebelling against or turning our backs on God is the last thing on our minds right now. We never dreamed of building an altar for Whole-Burnt-Offerings or Grain-Offerings to rival the Altar of our God in front of his Sacred Dwelling."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

for fear: Genesis 18:19

In time to come: Heb. To-morrow, Joshua 4:6, Genesis 30:33, Exodus 13:14, Deuteronomy 6:20, *marg.

Reciprocal: Psalms 78:6 - who

Cross-References

Genesis 16:3
So Sarai, Abram's wife, took her Egyptian maid Hagar and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. Abram had been living ten years in Canaan when this took place. He slept with Hagar and she got pregnant. When Hagar learned she was pregnant, she looked down on her mistress.

Proverbs 15:25
God smashes the pretensions of the arrogant; he stands with those who have no standing.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And if we have not [rather] done it for fear of [this] thing,.... So far they suggest were they from doing this, in order to turn from the pure worship of God, and introduce idolatrous worship, that it was to guard against everything of that kind for the future; and through fear of it, and anxiety and distress of mind, lest some time or another there should be any temptation to it in their posterity, had they built this altar:

saying, in time to come your children might speak unto our children; or "tomorrow" m, in a short time after your heads, and ours, are laid in the grave, your posterity will accost us:

saying, what have you to do with the Lord God of Israel? you are aliens and strangers from the commonwealth of Israel, live in a foreign land, and not in the land, of Canaan; are separated from us by the river Jordan, are a different people from us, and have nothing to do with the tabernacle of the Lord, and the service of it, or with the altar of the Lord, to offer sacrifice on it. Now as they returned to their own country, or when got there, such anxious thoughts and fears rose up in their minds, which they communicated to one another, and thought of this expedient to prevent what would be so fatal to their posterity. The Targum is,

"you have no part in the Word of the Lord God of Israel;''

see John 13:8.

m מחר "cras", Pagninus, Montanus, &c.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Joshua 22:24. For fear of this thing — The motive that actuated us was directly the reverse of that of which we have been suspected.