The altar of witness
10 And when they came to the borders of the Jordan, which are in the land of Canaan, there the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh built an altar by the Jordan, an altar of great appearance.
11 And they heard the children of Israel say, Behold, the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh built an altar in front of the land of Canaan, on the edge of the Jordan, of the band of the children of Israel.
12 When the children of Israel heard this, the whole congregation of the children of Israel was assembled in Shiloh, to go out against them in army.
13 And they sent the children of Israel to the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest;
14 And ten princes with him, from each father's house a prince, from all his tribes of Israel: and each was head of his parents' house in the thousands of Israel.
15 And when they came to the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and to the half tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead, they spoke with them, saying,
16 Thus says the whole congregation of the Lord: What transgression is this, that you have transgressed against the God of Israel, failing today to follow the Lord, building an altar for you, to rebel against the Lord?
17 Was there little of Peor's iniquity, that we are still not cleansed to this day, even though there was punishment in the Lord's congregation?
18 And because today you abandon the Lord, will it be that when you rebel against the Lord today, tomorrow you will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel.
19 If, however, the land of your possession is unclean, move to the land of the Lord's possession, where the Lord's tabernacle dwells, and take possession among us: but do not rebel against the Lord, neither rebel against us, building an altar for you, besides the altar of the Lord our God.
20 Did not Achan the son of Zera commit a transgression with regard to the anathema? and did not wrath come over the whole congregation of Israel? so that man did not die alone in his iniquity.
21 Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh answered and said to the heads of the thousands of Israel:
22 The God of gods, the Lord he knows, and Israel himself will know; if it was in rebellion, or for transgression against the Lord, today you do not preserve us;
23 If we build an altar to become after the Lord, or to offer a burnt offering and a meal offering on it, or to make a peace offering on it, the Lord himself requires it of us.
24 And if we did not do so in fear of this before, saying, Tomorrow your children will speak to our children, saying, What have you to do with the Lord God of Israel?
25 For the Lord has made Jordan a border between us and you, children of Reuben and children of Gad; you have no part in the Lord: and thus your children might well make our children give up fearing the Lord.
26 So we said, Let us now make and build an altar: not for the burnt offering, nor for sacrifice,
27But that between us and you, and between our generations after us, be a witness to us, so that we can do the Lord's service before him with our burnt offerings, with our sacrifices, and with our peaceful offerings: and for let your children not say to our children tomorrow: You have no part in the Lord.
28 So we said, Whenever tomorrow will tell us and our generations, then we will say: See the pattern of the Lord's altar that our fathers made, not for a burnt offering or a sacrifice, but to be a witness between us and you.
29 Never do this to us, that we rebel against the Lord, or that today we abandon the Lord, building an altar for a burnt offering, a meal offering or a sacrifice, outside the altar of the Lord our God, who stands before his tabernacle.
30 And therefore, hearing Phinehas the priest and the princes of the congregation, and the heads of the thousands of Israel, who were with him, the words that the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the children of Manasseh said, seemed well to your eyes.
31 And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the children of Manasseh: Today we know that the Lord is among us; because you have not committed transgression against the Lord: you have now delivered the children of Israel from the hand of the Lord.
32 And Phinehas became the son of Eleazar the priest, with the princes, with the children of Reuben, and with the children of Gad, from the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the children of Israel: and they brought give them the answer.
33 And the answer seemed good to the children of Israel, and the children of Israel praised God: and they spoke no more of going up against them in an army, to destroy the land where the children of Reuben and the children of Gad lived.
34 And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad put the name Ede on the altar: that it may be a witness among us that the Lord is God.
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