2and said to them, "You have kept everything that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you. You have also obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you."
3"You have not left your brothers all this long time, right up to this day. You have kept the charge that the LORD your God commanded you."
4"Now the LORD your God has given rest to your brothers, just as he promised them. So turn back now and go to your tents, to the land that belongs to you. Moses the servant of the LORD gave it to you on the other side of the Jordan."
5"But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, to hold on to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul."
6So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents.
7Moses had given land in Bashan to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh, but Joshua gave land to the other half among their brothers on this side of the Jordan, on the west. When Joshua sent them away to their tents also, he blessed them,
8and he said to them, "Go back to your tents with great riches, with very much cattle, with silver, with gold, with brass, with iron, and with very much clothing. Share the goods you took from your enemies with your brothers."
9So the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh turned back. They left the children of Israel at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the country of Gilead, to the land that belonged to them. They had taken it as their own, as the LORD had said through Moses.
10When they came to the borders of the Jordan, in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, a great altar to look at.
11And the children of Israel heard it said, "Look, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar facing the land of Canaan, in the borders of the Jordan, on the side where the children of Israel crossed over."
12When the children of Israel heard of it, the whole assembly of the children of Israel gathered together at Shiloh to go up and make war against them.
13And the children of Israel sent Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest to the children of Reuben, to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead,
14and with him ten leaders, one leader from each chief family throughout all the tribes of Israel. Each one was the head of his father's house among the thousands of Israel.
15They came to the children of Reuben, to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them and said,
16"This is what the whole assembly of the LORD says: What is this wrong that you have done against the God of Israel, turning away today from following the LORD? You have built yourselves an altar, so that you rebel today against the LORD."
17"Was the sin of Peor too small a thing for us? We are not clean from it even to this day, and a plague came on the assembly of the LORD."
18"And now must you turn away today from following the LORD? If you rebel today against the LORD, then tomorrow he will be angry with the whole assembly of Israel."
19"Yet if the land that belongs to you is unclean, then cross over into the land that belongs to the LORD, where the LORD's tabernacle stands, and take land among us. But do not rebel against the LORD, and do not rebel against us, by building yourselves an altar besides the altar of the LORD our God."
20"Did not Achan the son of Zerah do wrong with the cursed thing, and anger fell on the whole assembly of Israel? That man did not die alone for his sin."
21Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh answered the heads of the thousands of Israel and said,
22"The LORD God of gods, the LORD God of gods, he knows, and Israel shall know. If this was rebellion, or if it was breaking faith with the LORD, do not save us this day."
23"If we have built ourselves an altar to turn away from following the LORD, or to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings on it, or to offer peace offerings on it, let the LORD himself call us to account."
24"No, we did it because we were afraid of something. We said, In time to come your children might say to our children, 'What have you to do with the LORD God of Israel?'"
25"'For the LORD has made the Jordan a border between us and you, you children of Reuben and children of Gad. You have no share in the LORD.' So your children might make our children stop fearing the LORD."
26"So we said, Let us get ready and build ourselves an altar, not for burnt offerings and not for sacrifice,"
27"but so that it may be a witness between us and you, and between the generations that come after us, that we may do the service of the LORD before him with our burnt offerings, our sacrifices, and our peace offerings. Then your children will not say to our children in time to come, 'You have no share in the LORD.'"
28"So we said, If they ever say this to us or to our children in time to come, then we will answer, 'Look at the copy of the altar of the LORD that our fathers made, not for burnt offerings and not for sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you.'"
29"Far be it from us to rebel against the LORD and turn away today from following him, by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings, or sacrifices, besides the altar of the LORD our God that stands before his tabernacle."
30When Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the assembly and the heads of the thousands of Israel who were with him heard the words that the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh spoke, they were pleased.
31And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the children of Reuben, to the children of Gad, and to the children of Manasseh, "Today we know that the LORD is among us, because you have not done this wrong against the LORD. Now you have saved the children of Israel from the hand of the LORD."
32Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest and the leaders went back from the children of Reuben and from the children of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, to the land of Canaan, to the children of Israel, and brought them word.