The Eastern Tribes' Altar of Witness
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And when they came to the region of the Jordan that is in the land of Canaan, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar of imposing size.
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And the people of Israel 1heard it said, "Behold, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built the altar at the frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region about the Jordan, on the side that belongs to the people of Israel."
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And when the people of Israel heard of it, 2the whole assembly of the people of Israel gathered at Shiloh to make war against them.
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Then the people of Israel sent to the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, 3Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest,
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and with him ten chiefs, one from each of the tribal families of Israel, 4every one of them the head of a family among the clans of Israel.
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And they came to the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and they said to them,
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"Thus says the whole congregation of the LORD, 'What is this breach of faith that you have committed against the God of Israel in turning away this day from following the LORD by building yourselves an altar this day 5in rebellion against the LORD?
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Have we not had enough of 6the sin at Peor from which even yet we have not cleansed ourselves, and for which there came a plague upon the congregation of the LORD,
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that you too must turn away this day from following the LORD? And if 7you too rebel against the LORD today then tomorrow 8he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel.
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But now, if the land of your possession is unclean, pass over into the LORD's land 9where the LORD's tabernacle stands, and take for yourselves a possession among us. 10Only do not rebel against the LORD or make us as rebels by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the LORD our God.
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11Did not Achan the son of Zerah break faith in the matter of the devoted things, and 12wrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel? And he did not perish alone for his iniquity.'"
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Then the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel,
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"The Mighty One, 13God, the LORD! The Mighty One, God, the LORD! 14He knows; and let Israel itself know! If it was in rebellion or in breach of faith against the LORD, do not spare us today
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for building an altar to turn away from following the LORD. Or if we did so to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings or peace offerings on it, may the LORD himself 15take vengeance.
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No, but we did it from fear that 16in time to come your children might say to our children, 'What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?
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For the LORD has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you people of Reuben and people of Gad. You have no portion in the LORD.' So your children might make our children cease to worship the LORD.
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Therefore we said, 'Let us now build an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice,
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but to be 17a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we 18do perform the service of the LORD in his presence with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings, so your children will not say to our children in time to come, "You have no portion in the LORD."'
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And we thought, If this should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we should say, 'Behold, the copy of the altar of the LORD, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifice, but to be 19a witness between us and you.'
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Far be it from us that we should 20rebel against the LORD and turn away this day from following the LORD 21by building an altar for burnt offering, grain offering, or sacrifice, other than the altar of the LORD our God that stands before his tabernacle!"
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When 22Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation, the heads of the families of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh spoke, 23it was good in their eyes.
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And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh, "Today we know that 24the LORD is in our midst, because you have not committed this breach of faith against the LORD. Now you have delivered the people of Israel from the hand of the LORD."
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Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the chiefs, returned from the people of Reuben and the people of Gad 25in the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the people of Israel, and brought back word to them.
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And the report 26was good in the eyes of the people of Israel. And the people of Israel 27blessed God and spoke no more of making war against them to destroy the land where the people of Reuben and the people of Gad were settled.
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The people of Reuben and the people of Gad called the altar Witness, "For," they said, 28"it is a witness between us that the LORD is God."
Almeida Atualizada (Portuguese) AA
Josué 22:10
Tendo chegado � região junto ao Jordão, ainda na terra de Canaã, os filhos de Rúben os filhos de Gade e a meia tribo de Manassés edificaram ali, � beira do Jordão, um altar de grandes proporções.
King James Version KJV
New King James Version NKJV
Joshua 22:10
And when they came to the region of the Jordan which is in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan--a great, impressive altar.
Nova Versão Internacional NVIP
Josué 22:10
Quando chegaram a Gelilote, perto do Jordão, em Canaã, as tribos de Rúben, de Gade e a metade da tribo de Manassés construíram um imponente altar ali, junto ao Jordão.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)