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Tuesday, August 5th, 2025
the Week of Proper 13 / Ordinary 18
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Good News Translation

Joshua 22:21

The people of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh answered the heads of the families of the western tribes:

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Government;   Haste;   Misjudgment;   Motive;   Phinehas;   Prudence;   Reubenites;   Uncharitableness;   War;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Gad, the Tribe of;   Reuben, the Tribe of;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Phinehas;   Reuben;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Manasseh;   Thousands;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Jordan;   Pentateuch;   Phinehas;   Holman Bible Dictionary - High Priest;   Joshua, the Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Joshua;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Phinehas ;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Phin'ehas;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Altar;   Government of the Hebrews;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Conquest of Canaan;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Altar;   Joshua, Book of;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh answered the heads of the Israelite clans,
Hebrew Names Version
Then the children of Re'uven and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Menashsheh answered, and spoke to the heads of the thousands of Yisra'el,
King James Version
Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh answered, and said unto the heads of the thousands of Israel,
Lexham English Bible
And the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh spoke with the heads of the clans of Israel,
English Standard Version
Then the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel,
New Century Version
The people from Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh answered,
New English Translation
The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders of the Israelite clans:
Amplified Bible
Then the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered and said to the heads of the families of Israel,
New American Standard Bible
Then the sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered and spoke to the heads of the families of Israel.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad, and halfe the tribe of Manasseh answered, and saide vnto the heads ouer the thousands of Israel,
Legacy Standard Bible
Then the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered and spoke to the heads of the thousands of Israel.
Contemporary English Version
The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh answered:
Complete Jewish Bible
Then the descendants of Re'uven, the descendants of Gad and the half-tribe of M'nasheh answered the leaders of the thousands of Isra'el:
Darby Translation
And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh answered and said to the heads of the thousands of Israel,
Easy-to-Read Version
The people from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh answered the eleven men. They said,
George Lamsa Translation
Then the Reubenites the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh answered and said to Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest and to the heads of the armies of Israel,
Literal Translation
And the sons of Reuben, and the sons of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh answered and spoke with the heads of the thousands of Israel,
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then answered the children of Ruben, and the children of Gad, and the halfe trybe of Manasse, and sayde vnto the heades and prynces of Israel:
American Standard Version
Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered, and spake unto the heads of the thousands of Israel,
Bible in Basic English
Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel,
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Then the chyldren of Ruben, and the chyldren of Gad, and the halfe tribe of Manasses aunswered, and sayde vnto the heades ouer the thousandes of Israel:
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered, and spoke unto the heads of the thousands of Israel:
King James Version (1611)
Then the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the halfe tribe of Manasseh, answered and saide vnto the heads of the thousands of Israel,
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the sons of Ruben, and the sons of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasse answered, and spoke to the captains of the thousands of Israel, saying,
English Revised Version
Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh answered, and spake unto the heads of the thousands of Israel,
Berean Standard Bible
Then the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders of the clans of Israel,
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the sones of Ruben, and of Gad, and of half the lynage of Manasses, answeriden to the princes of the message of Israel,
Young's Literal Translation
And the sons of Reuben, and the sons of Gad, and the half of the tribe of Manasseh, answer and speak with the heads of the thousands of Israel:
Update Bible Version
Then the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered, and spoke to the heads of the thousands of Israel,
Webster's Bible Translation
Then the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered, and said to the heads of the thousands of Israel,
World English Bible
Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered, and spoke to the heads of the thousands of Israel,
New King James Version
Then the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh answered and said to the heads of the divisions [fn] of Israel:
New Living Translation
Then the people of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the heads of the clans of Israel:
New Life Bible
Then the people of Reuben and Gad and the half-family group of Manasseh answered the leaders of the families of Israel, saying,
New Revised Standard
Then the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel,
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then responded the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh, - and spake unto the heads of the thousands of Israel:
Douay-Rheims Bible
And the children of Ruben, and of Gad, and of the half tribe of Manasses answered the princes of the embassage of Israel:
Revised Standard Version
Then the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manas'seh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel,
THE MESSAGE
The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh replied to the heads of the tribes of Israel: The God of Gods is God , The God of Gods is God ! "He knows and he'll let Israel know if this is a rebellious betrayal of God . And if it is, don't bother saving us. If we built ourselves an altar in rebellion against God , if we did it to present on it Whole-Burnt-Offerings or Grain-Offerings or to enact there sacrificial Peace-Offerings, let God decide. "But that's not it. We did it because we cared. We were anxious lest someday your children should say to our children, ‘You're not connected with God , the God of Israel! God made the Jordan a boundary between us and you. You Reubenites and Gadites have no part in God .' And then your children might cause our children to quit worshiping God . "So we said to ourselves, ‘Let's do something. Let's build an altar—but not for Whole-Burnt-Offerings, not for sacrifices.' "We built this altar as a witness between us and you and our children coming after us, a witness to the Altar where we worship God in his Sacred Dwelling with our Whole-Burnt-Offerings and our sacrifices and our Peace-Offerings. "This way, your children won't be able to say to our children in the future, ‘You have no part in God .' "We said to ourselves, ‘If anyone speaks disparagingly to us or to our children in the future, we'll say: Look at this model of God 's Altar which our ancestors made. It's not for Whole-Burnt-Offerings, not for sacrifices. It's a witness connecting us with you.' "Rebelling against or turning our backs on God is the last thing on our minds right now. We never dreamed of building an altar for Whole-Burnt-Offerings or Grain-Offerings to rival the Altar of our God in front of his Sacred Dwelling." Phinehas the priest, all the heads of the congregation, and the heads of the military divisions of Israel who were also with him heard what the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had to say. They were satisfied. Priest Phinehas son of Eleazar said to Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, "Now we're convinced that God is present with us since you haven't been disloyal to God in this matter. You saved the People of Israel from God 's discipline." Then Priest Phinehas son of Eleazar left the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (from Gilead) and, with the chiefs, returned to the land of Canaan to the People of Israel and gave a full report. They were pleased with the report. The People of Israel blessed God—there was no more talk of attacking and destroying the land in which the Reubenites and Gadites were living. Reuben and Gad named the altar: A Witness Between Us. God Alone Is God.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered and spoke to the heads of the families of Israel.

Contextual Overview

21 The people of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh answered the heads of the families of the western tribes: 22 "The Mighty One is God! He is the Lord ! The Mighty One is God! He is the Lord ! He knows why we did this, and we want you to know too! If we rebelled and did not keep faith with the Lord , do not let us live any longer! 23 If we disobeyed the Lord and built our own altar to burn sacrifices on or to use for grain offerings or fellowship offerings, let the Lord himself punish us. 24 No! We did it because we were afraid that in the future your descendants would say to ours, ‘What do you have to do with the Lord , the God of Israel? 25 He made the Jordan a boundary between us and you people of Reuben and Gad. You have nothing to do with the Lord .' Then your descendants might make our descendants stop worshiping the Lord . 26 So we built an altar, not to burn sacrifices or make offerings, 27 but instead, as a sign for our people and yours, and for the generations after us, that we do indeed worship the Lord before his sacred Tent with our offerings to be burned and with sacrifices and fellowship offerings. This was to keep your descendants from saying that ours have nothing to do with the Lord . 28 It was our idea that, if this should ever happen, our descendants could say, ‘Look! Our ancestors made an altar just like the Lord 's altar. It was not for burning offerings or for sacrifice, but as a sign for our people and yours.' 29 We would certainly not rebel against the Lord or stop following him now by building an altar to burn offerings on or for grain offerings or sacrifices. We would not build any other altar than the altar of the Lord our God that stands in front of the Tent of his presence."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Then the children: The conduct and answer of these Reubenites and the associates are worthy of admiration and imitation. Though conscious of their innocence, they permitted Phinehas to finish his speech, though composed of little else than accusations, without any interruption; and taking in good part the suspicions, reproofs, and even harshness of their brethren, with the utmost meekness and solemnity they explain their intention, give all the satisfaction in their power, and with great propriety and reverence, appeal to that God against whom they were supposed to have rebelled.

answered: Proverbs 15:1, Proverbs 16:1, Proverbs 18:13, Proverbs 24:26, Acts 11:4, James 1:19, 1 Peter 3:15

heads: Exodus 18:21-25, Micah 5:2

Cross-References

Genesis 22:1
Some time later God tested Abraham; he called to him, "Abraham!" And Abraham answered, "Yes, here I am!"
Genesis 22:12
"Don't hurt the boy or do anything to him," he said. "Now I know that you honor and obey God, because you have not kept back your only son from him."
Genesis 24:10
The servant, who was in charge of Abraham's property, took ten of his master's camels and went to the city where Nahor had lived in northern Mesopotamia.
Numbers 23:7
Balaam uttered this prophecy: "Balak king of Moab has brought me From Syria, from the eastern mountains. ‘Come speak for me,' he said. ‘Put a curse on the people of Israel.'
Job 1:1
There was a man named Job, living in the land of Uz, who worshiped God and was faithful to him. He was a good man, careful not to do anything evil.
Job 32:2
But a bystander named Elihu could not control his anger any longer, because Job was justifying himself and blaming God. (Elihu was the son of Barakel, a descendant of Buz, and belonged to the clan of Ram.)

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, answered,.... By some person whom they appointed to deliver the answer in their name:

and said unto the heads of the thousands of Israel; who were over those that were rulers of the thousands of Israel, persons of greater authority than they, being princes of the respective tribes to which they belonged.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Joshua 22:21. Then the children of Reuben - answered — Though conscious of their own innocency they permitted Phinehas to finish his discourse, though composed of little else than accusations; there was a decency in this, and such a full proof of good breeding, as does them the highest credit. There are many public assemblies in the present day which lay claim to the highest refinement, who might take a very useful lesson from these Reubenites and their associates.


 
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