aSee Deut. 13:12-15
Joshua 22:11-29
11And the people of Israel aheard 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.” 12And when the people of Israel heard of it, bthe whole assembly of the people of Israel gathered at Shiloh to make war against them.13Then 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, cPhinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, 14and with him ten chiefs, one from each of the tribal families of Israel, devery one of them the head of a family among the clans of Israel. 15And 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, 16“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 ein rebellion against the Lord? 17Have we not had enough of fthe 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, 18that you too must turn away this day from following the Lord? And if gyou too rebel against the Lord today then tomorrow hhe will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. 19But now, if the land of your possession is unclean, pass over into the Lord’s land iwhere the Lord’s tabernacle stands, and take for yourselves a possession among us. jOnly 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. 20 kDid not Achan the son of Zerah break faith in the matter of the devoted things, and lwrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel? And he did not perish alone for his iniquity.’”
21Then 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, 22“The Mighty One, mGod, the Lord! The Mighty One, God, the Lord! nHe knows; and let Israel itself know! If it was in rebellion or in breach of faith against the Lord, do not spare us today 23for 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 otake vengeance. 24No, but we did it from fear that pin time to come your children might say to our children, ‘What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? 25For 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. 26Therefore we said, ‘Let us now build an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice, 27but to be qa witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we rdo 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.”’ 28And 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 sa witness between us and you.”’ 29Far be it from us that we should trebel against the Lord and turn away this day from following the Lord uby building an altar for burnt offering, grain offering, or sacrifice, other than the altar of the Lord our God that stands before his tabernacle!”
Copyright information for
ESV