Conquest of Canaan

That is why we said, ‘Let us take action and build an altar for ourselves, but not for burnt offerings or sacrifices.

Rather, let it be a witness between us and you and the generations to come, that we will worship the LORD in His presence with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and peace offerings.’ Then in the future, your descendants cannot say to ours, ‘You have no share in the LORD!’

Therefore we said, ‘If they ever say this to us or to our descendants, we will answer: Look at the replica of the altar of the LORD that our fathers made, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you.’

Far be it from us to rebel against the LORD and turn away from Him today by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings, or sacrifices, other than the altar of the LORD our God, which stands before His tabernacle.”

When Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation—the heads of Israel’s clans who were with him—heard what the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh had to say, they were satisfied.

Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest said to the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, “Today we know that the LORD is among us, because you have not committed this breach of faith against Him. Consequently, you have delivered the Israelites from the hand of the LORD.”

Then Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, together with the other leaders, returned to the Israelites in the land of Canaan and brought back a report regarding the Reubenites and Gadites in the land of Gilead.

The Israelites were satisfied with the report, and they blessed God and spoke no more about going to war against them to destroy the land where the Reubenites and Gadites lived.

So the Reubenites and Gadites named the altar Witness, for they said, “It is a witness between us that the LORD is God.”

A long time after the LORD had given Israel rest from all the enemies around them, when Joshua was old and well along in years,

he summoned all Israel, including its elders, leaders, judges, and officers. “I am old and well along in years,” he said,

“and you have seen everything that the LORD your God has done to all these nations for your sake, because it was the LORD your God who fought for you.

See, I have allotted as an inheritance to your tribes these remaining nations, including all the nations I have already cut off, from the Jordan westward to the Great Sea.

The LORD your God will push them out of your way and drive them out before you, so that you can take possession of their land, as the LORD your God promised you.

Be very strong, then, so that you can keep and obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, not turning aside from it to the right or to the left.

So you are not to associate with these nations that remain among you. You must not call on the names of their gods or swear by them, and you must not serve them or bow down to them.

Instead, you shall hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day.

The LORD has driven out great and powerful nations before you, and to this day no one can stand against you.

One of you can put a thousand to flight, because the LORD your God fights for you, just as He promised.

Therefore watch yourselves carefully, that you love the LORD your God.

For if you turn away and cling to the rest of these nations that remain among you, and if you intermarry and associate with them,

know for sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become for you a snare and a trap, a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the LORD your God has given you.

Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth, and you know with all your heart and soul that not one of the good promises the LORD your God made to you has failed. Everything was fulfilled for you; not one promise has failed.

But just as every good thing the LORD your God promised you has come to pass, likewise the LORD will bring upon you the calamity He has threatened, until He has destroyed you from this good land He has given you.

If you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from this good land He has given you.”