Joshua 22:9

22:9 So the Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites in Shiloh in the land of Canaan and headed home to their own land in Gilead, ¹  which they acquired by the Lord’s command through Moses.

Joshua 22:19

22:19 But if your own land ²  is impure, ³  cross over to the Lord’s own land, ⁴  where the Lord himself lives, ⁵  and settle down among us. ⁶  But don’t rebel against the Lord or us ⁷  by building for yourselves an altar aside from the altar of the Lord our God.

[22:9]  ¹ tn Heb “returned and went from the sons of Israel, from Shiloh which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession.”

[22:19]  ² tn Heb “the land of your possession.”

[22:19]  ³ sn The western tribes here imagine a possible motive for the action of the eastern tribes. T. C. Butler explains the significance of the land’s “impurity”: “East Jordan is impure because it is not Yahweh’s possession. Rather it is simply ‘your possession.’ That means it is land where Yahweh does not live, land which his presence has not sanctified and purified” (Joshua [WBC], 247).

[22:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “the land of the possession of the Lord.”

[22:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “where the dwelling place of the Lord resides.”

[22:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “and take for yourselves in our midst.”

[22:19]  ⁷ tc Heb “and us to you rebel.” The reading of the MT, the accusative sign with suffix (וְאֹתָנוּ, vÿ’otanu), is problematic with the verb “rebel” (מָרַד, marad). Many Hebrew mss correctly read the negative particle אַל (’al) for the preposition אֶל (’el, “to”).