¹ Then Joshua called the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh,

² and said to them, "You have kept all that Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded you, and have listened to my voice in all that I commanded you.

³ You have not left your brothers these many days to this day, but have performed the duty of the commandment of Yahweh your God.

⁴ Now Yahweh your God has given rest to your brothers, as he spoke to them. Therefore now return and go to your tents, to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of Yahweh gave you beyond the Jordan.

⁵ Only take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded you, to love Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, to hold fast to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul."

⁶ So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away; and they went to their tents.

⁷ Now to the one half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given inheritance in Bashan; but to the other half gave Joshua among their brothers beyond the Jordan westward. Moreover when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them,

⁸ and spoke to them, saying, "Return with much wealth to your tents, with very much livestock, with silver, with gold, with brass, with iron, and with very much clothing. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers."

⁹ The children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the children of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession, which they owned, according to the commandment of Yahweh by Moses.

¹⁰ When they came to the region about the Jordan, that is in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, a great altar to look at.

¹¹ The children of Israel heard this, "Behold, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar in the forefront of the land of Canaan, in the region about the Jordan, on the side that pertains to the children of Israel."

¹² When the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up against them to war.

¹³ The children of Israel sent to the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest,

¹⁴ and with him ten princes, one prince of a fathers' house for each of the tribes of Israel; and they were everyone of them head of their fathers' houses among the thousands of Israel.

¹⁵ They came to the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying,

¹⁶ "Thus says the whole congregation of Yahweh, 'What trespass is this that you have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following Yahweh, in that you have built you an altar, to rebel this day against Yahweh?

¹⁷ Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, although there came a plague on the congregation of Yahweh,

¹⁸ that you must turn away this day from following Yahweh? It will be, since you rebel today against Yahweh, that tomorrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel.

¹⁹ However, if the land of your possession is unclean, then pass over to the land of the possession of Yahweh, in which Yahweh's tabernacle dwells, and take possession among us; but don't rebel against Yahweh, nor rebel against us, in building an altar other than the altar of Yahweh our God.

²⁰ Didn't Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the devoted thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? That man didn't perish alone in his iniquity.'"

²¹ Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered, and spoke to the heads of the thousands of Israel,

²² "The Mighty One, God, Yahweh, the Mighty One, God, Yahweh, he knows; and Israel shall know: if it was in rebellion, or if in trespass against Yahweh (don't save us this day),

²³ that we have built us an altar to turn away from following Yahweh; or if to offer burnt offering or meal offering, or if to offer sacrifices of peace offerings, let Yahweh himself require it.

²⁴ "If we have not out of concern done this, and for a reason, saying, 'In time to come your children might speak to our children, saying, "What have you to do with Yahweh, the God of Israel?

²⁵ For Yahweh has made the Jordan a border between us and you, you children of Reuben and children of Gad. You have no portion in Yahweh."' So your children might make our children cease from fearing Yahweh.

²⁶ "Therefore we said, 'Let's now prepare to build ourselves an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice;

²⁷ but it will be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we may perform the service of Yahweh before him with our burnt offerings, with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings;' that your children may not tell our children in time to come, 'You have no portion in Yahweh.'

²⁸ "Therefore we said, 'It shall be, when they tell us or our generations this in time to come, that we shall say, "Behold the pattern of the altar of Yahweh, which our fathers made, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice; but it is a witness between us and you."'

²⁹ "Far be it from us that we should rebel against Yahweh, and turn away this day from following Yahweh, to build an altar for burnt offering, for meal offering, or for sacrifice, besides the altar of Yahweh our God that is before his tabernacle!"

³⁰ When Phinehas the priest, and the princes of the congregation, even the heads of the thousands of Israel that were with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them well.

³¹ Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the children of Reuben, to the children of Gad, and to the children of Manasseh, "Today we know that Yahweh is in the midst of us, because you have not committed this trespass against Yahweh. Now you have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of Yahweh."

³² Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the princes, returned from the children of Reuben, and from the children of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, to the land of Canaan, to the children of Israel, and brought them word again.

³³ The thing pleased the children of Israel; and the children of Israel blessed God, and spoke no more of going up against them to war, to destroy the land in which the children of Reuben and the children of Gad lived.

³⁴ The children of Reuben and the children of Gad named the altar "A Witness Between Us that Yahweh is God."

¹ "I made a covenant with my eyes, how then should I look lustfully at a young woman?

² For what is the portion from God above, and the heritage from the Almighty on high?

³ Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, and disaster to the workers of iniquity?

⁴ Doesn't he see my ways, and number all my steps?

⁵ "If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceit

⁶ (let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know my integrity);

⁷ if my step has turned out of the way, if my heart walked after my eyes, if any defilement has stuck to my hands,

⁸ then let me sow, and let another eat. Yes, let the produce of my field be rooted out.

⁹ "If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbor's door,

¹⁰ then let my wife grind for another, and let others sleep with her.

¹¹ For that would be a heinous crime. Yes, it would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges:

¹² For it is a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all my increase.

¹³ "If I have despised the cause of my male servant or of my female servant, when they contended with me;

¹⁴ What then shall I do when God rises up? When he visits, what shall I answer him?

¹⁵ Didn't he who made me in the womb make him? Didn't one fashion us in the womb?

¹⁶ "If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

¹⁷ or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it

¹⁸ (no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, her have I guided from my mother's womb);

¹⁹ if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or that the needy had no covering;

²⁰ if his heart hasn't blessed me, if he hasn't been warmed with my sheep's fleece;

²¹ if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate,

²² then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade, and my arm be broken from the bone.

²³ For calamity from God is a terror to me. Because his majesty, I can do nothing.

²⁴ "If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold, 'You are my confidence;'

²⁵ If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much;

²⁶ if I have seen the sun when it shined, or the moon moving in splendor,

²⁷ and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,

²⁸ this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges; for I should have denied the God who is above.

²⁹ "If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him;

³⁰ (yes, I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse);

³¹ if the men of my tent have not said, 'Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat?'

³² (the foreigner has not lodged in the street, but I have opened my doors to the traveler);

³³ if like Adam I have covered my transgressions, by hiding my iniquity in my heart,

³⁴ because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and didn't go out of the door--

³⁵ oh that I had one to hear me! (behold, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me); let the accuser write my indictment!

³⁶ Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; and I would bind it to me as a crown.

³⁷ I would declare to him the number of my steps. as a prince would I go near to him.

³⁸ If my land cries out against me, and its furrows weep together;

³⁹ if I have eaten its fruits without money, or have caused its owners to lose their life,

⁴⁰ let briars grow instead of wheat, and stinkweed instead of barley." The words of Job are ended.