The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Then Y'hoshua called the Re'uveni, the Gadi and the half-tribe of M'nasheh,
1
Then Joshua sent for the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh,
2 and said to them, "You have done everything Moshe the servant of ADONAI ordered you to do and heeded what I said in all the orders I gave you.
2
And said to them, You have kept all the orders of Moses, the Lord's servant, and have done everything I gave you orders to do:
3 All this time you have not abandoned your kinsmen but have obeyed your commission, as ADONAI your God ordered.
3
You have now been with your brothers for a long time; till this day you have been doing the orders of the Lord your God.
4 Now ADONAI your God has given rest to your kinsmen, as he told them he would. So you too, return to your tents in the land which is your possession, which Moshe the servant of ADONAI gave you beyond the Yarden.
4
And now the Lord your God has given your brothers rest, as he said: so now you may go back to your tents, to the land of your heritage, which Moses, the Lord's servant, gave to you on the other side of Jordan.
5 Only take great care to obey the mitzvah and the Torah which Moshe the servant of ADONAI gave you - to love ADONAI your God, follow all his ways, observe his mitzvot, cling to him, and serve him with all your heart and being."
5
Only take great care to do the orders and the law which Moses, the Lord's servant, gave you; to have love for the Lord your God and to go in all his ways; and to keep his laws and to be true to him and to be his servants with all your heart and with all your soul.
6 Then Y'hoshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents.
6
Then Joshua gave them his blessing and sent them away: and they went back to their tents.
7 (To the one half-tribe of M'nasheh, Moshe had given an inheritance in Bashan; but to the other half, Y'hoshua gave one among their kinsmen on the west side of the Yarden.) When Y'hoshua sent them away to their tents he blessed them,
7
Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh, Moses had given a heritage in Bashan; but to the other half, Joshua gave a heritage among their brothers on the west side of Jordan. Now when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he gave them his blessing,
8 saying, "Return with great riches to your tents - with very much livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, iron and with great quantities of clothing; share the spoil of your enemies with your kinsmen."
8
And said to them, Go back with much wealth to your tents, and with very much cattle, with silver and gold and brass and iron, and with a very great store of clothing; give your brothers a part of the goods taken in the war.
9 So the descendants of Re'uven, the descendants of Gad and the half-tribe of M'nasheh returned; they left the people of Isra'el in Shiloh, in the land of Kena'an, to go to the land of Gil'ad, to the land they were to possess and which they already did possess - according to the order of ADONAI through Moshe.
9
So Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh went back, parting from the children of Israel at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their heritage which had been given to them by the Lord's order to Moses.
10 When the descendants of Re'uven, the descendants of Gad and the half-tribe arrived in the area of the land of Kena'an near the Yarden, they built an altar there by the Yarden, a large, impressive altar.
10
Now when they came to the country by Jordan in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh put up there, by Jordan, a great altar, seen from far.
11 The people of Isra'el heard of it and said, "Look! The descendants of Re'uven, the descendants of Gad and the half-tribe of M'nasheh have built an altar by the frontier of the land of Kena'an, in the area by the Yarden, on the side that belongs to the people of Isra'el."
11
And news came to the children of Israel, See, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have put up an altar opposite the land of Canaan, in the country by Jordan on the side which is Israel's.
12 When the people of Isra'el heard of it, the entire community of Isra'el gathered together in Shiloh to wage war against them.
12
Then all the meeting of the children of Israel, hearing this, came together at Shiloh to go up against them to war.
13 The people of Isra'el sent Pinchas the son of El'azar the cohen into the land of Gil'ad to the descendants of Re'uven, the descendants of Gad and the half-tribe of M'nasheh.
13
And the children of Israel sent Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, to the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead,
14 With him were ten leaders, one leader of an ancestral clan for each of the tribes of Isra'el; each one was a head of his ancestral clan among the thousands of Isra'el.
14
And with him they sent ten chiefs, one for every tribe of the children of Israel, every one of them the head of his house among the families of Israel.
15 They came to the descendants of Re'uven, the descendants of Gad and the half-tribe of M'nasheh in the land of Gil'ad and spoke with them; they said,
15
And they came to the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and said to them,
16 "Here is what the whole community of ADONAI is saying: 'What is this treachery that you have committed against the God of Isra'el, turning away today from following ADONAI, in that you have built yourselves an altar, thus rebelling today against ADONAI?
16
This is what all the meeting of the people of the Lord has said, What is this wrong which you have done against the God of Israel, turning back this day from the Lord and building an altar for yourselves, and being false to the Lord?
17 Is the guilt we incurred at P'or not enough for us? We haven't cleansed ourselves from it to this day, even though a plague came on the community of ADONAI.
17
Was not the sin of Baal-peor great enough, from which we are not clear even to this day, though punishment came on the people of the Lord,
18 Is this why you have to turn away today from following ADONAI? If you rebel against ADONAI today, he will be angry tomorrow with the whole community of Isra'el.
18
That now you are turned back from the Lord? and, because you are false to him today, tomorrow his wrath will be let loose on all the people of Israel.
19 If the land you have taken possession of is unclean, then cross back over into the land which belongs to ADONAI, where the tabernacle of ADONAI is located, and take a possession among us. But don't rebel against ADONAI, and don't rebel against us, by building yourselves an altar other than the altar of ADONAI our God.
19
But if the land you now have is unclean, come over into the Lord's land where his House is, and take up your heritage among us: but do not be false to the Lord and to us by building yourselves an altar in addition to the altar of the Lord our God.
20 Didn't Achan the son of Zerach commit a sin in regard to things set aside for destruction, and God's anger fell on the whole community of Isra'el? He was not the only one who died for his crime.'"
20
Did not Achan, the son of Zerah, do wrong about the cursed thing, causing wrath to come on all the people of Israel? And not on him only came the punishment of death.
21 Then the descendants of Re'uven, the descendants of Gad and the half-tribe of M'nasheh answered the leaders of the thousands of Isra'el:
21
Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel,
22 "The Mighty One, God, is ADONAI! He knows, and Isra'el will know - if we acted in rebellion or treachery against ADONAI, don't vindicate us today!
22
God, even God the Lord, God, even God the Lord, he sees, and Israel will see--if it is in pride or in sin against the Lord,
23 We haven't built an altar in order to turn away from following ADONAI or to offer on it burnt offerings, grain offerings or sacrifices as peace offerings. If we have, let ADONAI himself require us to atone for it.
23
That we have made ourselves an altar, being false to the Lord, keep us not safe from death this day; and if for the purpose of offering burned offerings on it and meal offerings, or peace-offerings, let the Lord himself send punishment for it;
24 Rather, we did this out of anxiety, because we thought, 'Sometime in the future, your descendants might say to our descendants, "You don't have anything to do with ADONAI, the God of Isra'el,
24
And if we have not, in fact, done this designedly and with purpose, having in our minds the fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel?
25 because ADONAI made the Yarden the border between us and you, so you descendants of Re'uven and Gad have no share in ADONAI."' In this way your descendants could make our descendants stop fearing ADONAI.
25
For the Lord has made Jordan a line of division between us and you, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad; you have no part in the Lord: so your children will make our children give up fearing the Lord.
26 So we said, 'Let us now make preparations and build ourselves an altar, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices,
26
So we said, Let us now make an altar for ourselves, not for burned offerings or for the offerings of beasts:
27 but as a witness between us and you, and between our generations who will come after us, so that we may perform the service for ADONAI in his presence with our burnt offerings, sacrifices and peace offerings - so that your descendants will not say to our descendants at some future time, "You have no share in ADONAI."'
27
But to be a witness between us and you, and between the future generations, that we have the right of worshipping the Lord with our burned offerings and our offerings of beasts and our peace-offerings; so that your children will not be able to say to our children in time to come, You have no part in the Lord.
28 For this reason we said, 'When they accuse us or future generations in this way, we will say, "Look! Here is a replica of the altar of ADONAI which our ancestors made, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you."'
28
For we said to ourselves, If they say this to us or to future generations, then we will say, See this copy of the Lord's altar which our fathers made, not for burned offerings or offerings of beasts, but for a witness between us and you.
29 Far be it from us that we should rebel against ADONAI and turn away today from following ADONAI by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings or sacrifices other than the altar of ADONAI our God which stands in front of his tabernacle!"
29
Never let it be said that we were false to the Lord, turning back this day from him and building an altar for burned offerings and meal offerings and offerings of beasts, in addition to the altar of the Lord our God which is before his House.
30 When Pinchas the cohen and the leaders of the community, the heads of the thousands of Isra'el who were with him, heard what the descendants of Re'uven, the descendants of Gad and the descendants of M'nasheh said, it satisfied them.
30
Then Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the meeting and the heads of the families of Israel who were with him, hearing what the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh said, were pleased.
31 Pinchas the son of El'azar the cohen said to the descendants of Re'uven, the descendants of Gad and the descendants of M'nasheh, "Today we know that ADONAI is here with us, because you have not committed this treasonous act against ADONAI. Now you have saved the people of Isra'el from the anger of ADONAI."
31
And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, said to the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh, Now we are certain that the Lord is among us, because you have not done this wrong against the Lord: and you have kept us from falling into the hands of the Lord.
32 So Pinchas the son of El'azar the cohen and the leaders returned from the descendants of Re'uven and Gad, from the land of Gil'ad to the land of Kena'an and the people of Isra'el, bringing word back to them.
32
Then Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, and the chiefs went back from the land of Gilead, from the children of Reuben and the children of Gad, and came to the children of Israel in Canaan and gave them the news.
33 What they said satisfied the people of Isra'el. The people of Isra'el blessed God and said no more about going to wage war against the descendants of Re'uven and Gad and destroying the land where they lived.
33
And the children of Israel were pleased about this; and they gave praise to God, and had no more thought of going to war against the children of Reuben and the children of Gad for the destruction of their land.
34 The descendants of Re'uven and Gad called the altar "'Ed [a witness]" between us that ADONAI is God.
34
And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad gave to that altar the name of Ed. For, they said, It is a witness between us that the Lord is God.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.