Joshua 22:21-29

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  22:24 We swear we have done this because we were worried that ¹¹  in the future your descendants would say to our descendants, ‘What relationship do you have with the Lord God of Israel? ¹²  22:25 The Lord made the Jordan a boundary between us and you Reubenites and Gadites. You have no right to worship the Lord.’ ¹³  In this way your descendants might cause our descendants to stop obeying ¹⁴  the Lord. 22:26 So we decided to build this altar, not for burnt offerings and sacrifices, 22:27 but as a reminder to us and you, ¹⁵  and to our descendants who follow us, that we will honor the Lord in his very presence ¹⁶  with burnt offerings, sacrifices, and tokens of peace. ¹⁷  Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to our descendants, ‘You have no right to worship the Lord.’ ¹⁸  22:28 We said, ‘If in the future they say such a thing ¹⁹  to us or to our descendants, we will reply, “See the model of the Lord’s altar that our ancestors ²⁰  made, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a reminder to us and you.”’ ²¹  22:29 Far be it from us to rebel against the Lord by turning back today from following after the Lord by building an altar for burnt offerings, sacrifices, and tokens of peace ²²  aside from the altar of the Lord our God located in front of his dwelling place!” ²³ 

[22:21]  ¹ tn Heb “answered and spoke to the heads of.”

[22:22]  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.”

[22:22]  ³ tn Heb “he knows.”

[22:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “if in rebellion or if in unfaithfulness against the Lord.”

[22:22]  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.

[22:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “by building.” The prepositional phrase may be subordinated to what precedes, “if in unfaithfulness…by building.”

[22:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “or if to offer up.”

[22:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “or if to make.”

[22:23]  ⁹ tn Or “peace offerings.”

[22:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the Lord, he will seek.” Perhaps this is a self-imprecation in an oath, “may the Lord himself punish us.”

[22:24]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Surely, from worry concerning a matter we have done this, saying.”

[22:24]  ¹² tn Heb “What is there to you and to the Lord God of Israel?” The rhetorical question is sarcastic in tone and anticipates a response, “Absolutely none!”

[22:25]  ¹³ tn Heb “You have no portion in the Lord.”

[22:25]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “fearing.”

[22:27]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “but it is a witness between us and you.”

[22:27]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to do the service of the Lord before him.”

[22:27]  ¹⁷ tn Or “peace offerings.”

[22:27]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “You have no portion in the Lord.”

[22:28]  ¹⁹ tn The words “such a thing” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[22:28]  ²⁰ tn Heb “fathers.”

[22:28]  ²¹ tn Heb “but it is a witness between us and you.”

[22:29]  ²² tn Or “peace offerings.”

[22:29]  ²³ sn The Lord’s dwelling place here refers to the tabernacle.