The Eastern Tribes Return Home

1Then Iosuah called the Rubenites, the Gadites, & the halfe tribe of Manasses, 2And sayd vnto them: Ye haue kept all that Moyses the seruaut of the Lord comaunded you, and haue obeyed my voyce in all that I comaunded you. 3Ye haue not lefte your brethren of a long season vnto this day, but haue kept the commaundement of the Lorde your God. 4And now that the Lorde hath geuen rest vnto your brethren as he promised them: therfore returne ye, and go vnto your tentes, and vnto the lande of your possession, which Moyses the seruaunt of the Lord gaue you on the other side Iordane. 5But in any wyse take diligent heede, to do ye commaundement & lawe which Moyses the seruaunt of the Lord charged you: that ye loue the Lorde your God, and walke in all his wayes, and kepe his commaundements, and cleaue vnto him, and serue him with all your heartes, and all your soules. 6And so Iosuah blessed them, & sent them away: And they went vnto their tentes.

7Unto the one halfe of the tribe of Manasses Moyses gaue possession in Basan: & vnto the other halfe thereof gaue Iosuah, among their brethren on this syde Iordane westwarde. And Iosuah sent them away also vnto their tentes, and blessed them, 8And sayde vnto them: Returne with much riches vnto your tentes, and with a great multitude of cattell, with syluer and golde, with brasse, and iron, and with much rayment, and deuide the spoyle of your enemies with your brethren.

The Altar of Witness

9And the children of Ruben, the childre of Gad, & the halfe tribe of Manasses returned, and departed from the children of Israel out of Silo, which is in the lande of Chanaan, to go vnto the countrey of Gilead, to the lande of their possession, which they had obtayned, according to the word of the Lorde by the hand of Moyses.

10And when they came vnto the borders of Iordane that are in the land of Chanaan, there the children of Ruben, the children of Gad, and the halfe tribe of Manasses buylt there an aulter by Iordane, & that a great aulter to see to. 11When the children of Israel hearde saye, beholde the children of Ruben, the children of Gad, and the halfe tribe of Manasses, haue buylt an aulter in ye forefront of the lande of Chanaan in the borders of Iordane, at the passage of the children of Israel: 12When the children of Israel hearde of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered them together at Silo, to make battell against them.

13And the children of Israel sent vnto the children of Ruben, and to the children of Gad, and to the halfe tribe of Manasses into the lade of Gilead, Phinehes the sonne of Eleazar the priest, 14And with him ten lordes, of euery cheefe house a lorde, throughout all the tribes of Israel, which were heades of their fathers housholdes among the thousandes of Israel. 15And they went vnto the children of Ruben, and to the children of Gad, and to the children of the halfe tribe of Manasses, vnto the lande of Gilead, and they spake with them, saying: 16Thus say the whole congregation of the Lorde: what transgression is this, that ye haue transgressed agaynst the God of Israel, to turne away this day from the Lord, in that ye haue buylded you an aulter for to rebell this day against the Lord? 17Is the wicked deede of Peor to litle for vs, wherof we are not yet cleansed vnto this day, and there was a plague in the congregation of the Lorde? 18Ye also are turned away this day from the Lorde: And seyng ye rebell to daye against the Lorde, it wyll come to passe that to morowe he shalbe wroth with all the congregation of Israel. 19Notwithstandyng, yf ye thynke that the lande of your possession is vncleane, then come ouer vnto the lande of the possession of the Lorde, wherein the Lordes tabernacle dwelleth, and take possession among vs: But rebell not against the Lorde, nor rebell against vs, to buylde you any other aulter, saue the aulter of the Lorde our God. 20Dyd not Achan the sonne of Zareth trespasse greeuouslie in the accursed thyng, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? and this man alone perished not in his wickednes.

21Then the chyldren of Ruben, and the chyldren of Gad, and the halfe tribe of Manasses aunswered, and sayde vnto the heades ouer the thousandes of Israel: 22The Lorde God of gods, the Lorde God of gods knoweth, and also Israel shall knowe, yf it be to rebell or to transgresse against the Lorde, then thou Lorde saue vs not this day. 23Or els yf we haue buylt vs an aulter to turne from folowyng the Lorde, or to offer theron burnt offeryng or meate offeryng, or to offer peace offerynges theron, let ye Lord him selfe require it. 24And yf we haue not rather done it for feare of this thyng, saying, In tyme to come your chyldren myght say vnto ours: What haue you to do with the Lorde God of Israel? 25The Lorde hath made Iordane a border betweene vs and you ye children of Ruben and of Gad, ye haue no part therfore in the Lorde: and so shall your children make our children ceasse from fearyng the Lorde.

26Therfore we saide, We wyll make vs an aulter, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice: 27But for a witnesse betweene vs and you, and our generations after vs, that we should serue the Lorde with our offerynges, sacrifices, & peace offerynges before him: & that your children shoulde not say to ours in tyme to come, Ye haue no part in the Lorde. 28Therfore sayde we, that yf they should so say to vs or to our generations in tyme to come: that we wolde say again, Behold the fassion of the aulter of the Lord which our fathers made, neither for burnt offringes nor sacrifices, but for a witnesse betweene vs and you. 29God forbyd that we should rebell agaynst the Lord, & turne this day from after hym, and buylde any other aulter for burnt offringes, oblations, or sacrifices, saue the aulter of the Lorde our God that is before his tabernacle.

30And when Phinehes the priest, and the lordes of the congregation, & heades ouer the thousandes of Israel which were with him, hearde these wordes that the children of Ruben, and the children of Gad, and the children of Manasses spake, they were well content. 31And Phinehes the sonne of Eleazar the priest sayd vnto the children of Ruben, and to the children of Gad, and to the children of Manasses: This day we perceaue that the Lord is among vs, because ye haue not done this trespasse agaynst the Lorde: Now ye haue rydde the children of Israel out of the hand of the Lorde.

32And Phinehes the sonne of Eleazar the priest, with the lordes, returned from the children of Ruben, and from the children of Gad, out of the lande of Gilead, vnto the lande of Chanaan, to the children of Israel, & brought them this worde agayne. 33And the saying pleased the children of Israel, and they blessed God, and dyd not entende to go agaynst the in battell, and to destroy the lande which the children of Ruben and Gad dwelt in. 34And the children of Ruben, and the children of Gad, called the aulter Ed for it shalbe a witnes betweene vs, that the Lorde is God.