Joshua 22:10-24

International Standard Version

An Unauthorized Altar is Constructed

¹⁰ After they arrived at an area of the Jordan River that is in the land of Canaan, the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh constructed an altar there by the Jordan River, and it was very large. ¹¹ When the Israelis heard about it, they announced, “Look here, the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have constructed an altar in Canaan’s frontier district of the Jordan River, on the side apportioned to the Israelis.” ¹² When the Israelis heard that announcement,^[a] the entire community of the Israelis gathered together at Shiloh in preparation for war.

¹³ Then the Israelis sent a delegation^[b] to the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead. They sent^[c] Eleazar’s son Phinehas the priest, ¹⁴ and ten officials with him (one for each of the tribal families of Israel, each one of them a family leader among the tribes^[d] of Israel). ¹⁵ They approached the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead and told them: ¹⁶ “This is what the entire community of the Lord has to say: ‘What is this treacherous act by which you have acted deceitfully against the God of Israel by turning away from following the Lord today, and by building yourselves an altar today, so you can rebel against the Lord? ¹⁷ Isn’t the evil that happened at Peor enough for us, from which we have yet to be completely cleansed even to this point,^[e] and because of which a plague came upon the community of the Lord? ¹⁸ Now then, are you turning away from following the Lord today? If you rebel against the Lord today, by tomorrow he will be angry with the entire community of Israel. ¹⁹ If the land of your inheritance remains unclean, then cross back over into the land that the Lord possesses, and receive an inheritance among us. Don’t rebel against the Lord and against us by constructing an altar for yourselves besides the altar of the Lord our God. ²⁰ Didn’t Zerah’s son Achan act treacherously with respect to the things banned by God,^[f] and as a result God became angry at^[g] the entire community of Israel? And that man was not the only one to die because of his iniquity.’”

²¹ The descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the officials of the tribes^[h] of Israel, ²² “The God of gods, the Lord, the God of gods, the Lord is the one who knows! And may Israel itself be aware that if this^[i] was an act of rebellion or an act of treachery against the Lord, may he not deliver us today! ²³ If we have built an altar for ourselves intended to turn us away from following the Lord, or to offer burnt offerings, grain offerings, or peace offerings on it, may the Lord himself demand an accounting from us!^{[j] 24} But we did this because we were concerned for a reason, since we thought, ‘Sometime in the future your descendants may say to our descendants, “What do you have in common^[k] with the Lord, the God of Israel?