Joshua 22:21-23

22:21 The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders ¹  of the Israelite clans: 22:22 “El, God, the Lord! ²  El, God, the Lord! He knows the truth! ³  Israel must also know! If we have rebelled or disobeyed the Lord, ⁴  don’t spare us ⁵  today! 22:23 If we have built ⁶  an altar for ourselves to turn back from following the Lord by making ⁷  burnt sacrifices and grain offerings on it, or by offering ⁸  tokens of peace ⁹  on it, the Lord himself will punish us. ¹⁰ 

¹ tn Heb “answered and spoke to the heads of.”

² sn Israel’s God is here identified with three names: (1) אֵל (’el), “El” (or “God”); (2) אֱלֹהִים (’elohim), “Elohim” (or “God”), and (3) יְהוָה (yÿhvah), “Yahweh” (or “the Lord”). The name אֵל (’el, “El”) is often compounded with titles, for example, El Elyon, “God Most High.”

³ tn Heb “he knows.”

⁴ tn Heb “if in rebellion or if in unfaithfulness against the Lord.”

⁵ tn Heb “do not save us.” The verb form is singular, being addressed to either collective Israel or the Lord himself. The LXX translates in the third person.

³ tn Heb “by building.” The prepositional phrase may be subordinated to what precedes, “if in unfaithfulness…by building.”

⁴ tn Heb “or if to offer up.”

⁵ tn Heb “or if to make.”

⁶ tn Or “peace offerings.”

⁷ tn Heb “the Lord, he will seek.” Perhaps this is a self-imprecation in an oath, “may the Lord himself punish us.”