17Was the sin of Peor not enough for us, even though we have not yet cleansed ourselves of that sin to this very day, and a plague fell upon the congregation of the LORD?
18And now you are turning away from the LORD today! If you rebel against the LORD today, tomorrow He will be angry with the entire assembly of Israel.
19If, however, the land of your possession is unclean, then come over to the land the LORD possesses, where the LORD's tabernacle stands, and settle among us. But do not rebel against the LORD or against us by building an altar for yourselves other than the altar of the LORD our God.
20Did not Achan son of Zerah commit a treachery regarding the devoted things, and wrath fell upon the entire assembly of Israel? He was not the only one who died for his sin.'
21Then the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh replied to the heads of the clans of Israel:
22The Mighty One, God, the LORD—the Mighty One, God, the LORD! He knows, and let Israel also know! If it was in rebellion or treachery against the LORD, do not spare us today.
23If we have built an altar to turn away from following the LORD, or to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings, or to offer fellowship sacrifices on it, may the LORD Himself call us to account.
24We did this because we feared that someday your descendants might say to ours, ‘What do you have to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?’
25The LORD has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you—you Reubenites and Gadites! You have no share in the LORD.’ So your descendants might cause ours to stop worshiping the LORD.
26That is why we said, ‘Let us build an altar—not for burnt offerings or sacrifices,
27but as a witness between us and you and the generations that follow, that we will worship the LORD at His sanctuary with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and fellowship offerings.’ Then in the future, your descendants will not be able to say to ours, ‘You have no share in the LORD.’
28And 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, which our ancestors built—not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you.’
29Far be it from us to rebel against the LORD and turn away from Him today by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings, and sacrifices other than the altar of the LORD our God that stands in front of His tabernacle.