Joshua 22:24

Douay-Rheims Bible

And not rather with this thought and design, that we should say: To morrow your children will say to our children: What have you to do with the Lord the God of Israel?

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
We actually did this from a specific concern that in the future your descendants might say to our descendants, ‘What relationship do you have with the Lord, the God of Israel?

Hebrew Names Version
and if we have not [rather] out of carefulness done this, [and] of purpose, saying, In time to come your children might speak to our children, saying, What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Yisra'el?

King James Version
And if we have not rather done it for fear of this thing, saying, In time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying, What have ye to do with the Lord God of Israel?

Lexham English Bible
But in fact, we have done this because of anxiety, because of a reason, saying, ‘In the future your children may say to our children, ‘What is the relationship between you and Yahweh the God of Israel?

English Standard Version
No, but we did it from fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, ‘What have you to do with the Lord , the God of Israel?

New Century Version
"We did not build it for that reason. We feared that someday your people would not accept us as part of your nation. Then they might say, ‘You cannot worship the Lord , the God of Israel.

New English Translation
We swear we have done this because we were worried that in the future your descendants would say to our descendants, ‘What relationship do you have with the Lord God of Israel?

Amplified Bible
"But in truth we have done this out of concern, for a reason, saying, 'In time to come your sons (descendants) may say to our sons, "What claim do you have to the LORD, the God of Israel?

New American Standard Bible
"But truly we have done this out of concern, for a reason, saying, 'In time to come your sons may say to our sons, "What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?

Geneva Bible (1587)
And if we haue not rather done it for feare of this thing, saying, In time to come your children might say vnto our children, What haue ye to doe with the Lord God of Israel?

Legacy Standard Bible
But truly we have done this out of concern, for a reason, saying, ‘In time to come your sons may say to our sons, "What have you to do with Yahweh, the God of Israel?

Contemporary English Version
We built that altar because we were worried. Someday your descendants might tell our descendants, "The Lord made the Jordan River the boundary between us Israelites and you people of Reuben and Gad. The Lord is Israel's God, but you're not part of Israel, so you can't take part in worshiping the Lord ." Your descendants might say that and try to make our descendants stop worshiping and obeying the Lord .

Complete Jewish Bible
Rather, we did this out of anxiety, because we thought, ‘Sometime in the future, your descendants might say to our descendants, "You don't have anything to do with Adonai , the God of Isra'el,

Darby Translation
and if we have not done it from fear of this thing, saying, In future your children will speak to our children, saying, What have ye to do with Jehovah the God of Israel?

Easy-to-Read Version
But that is not why we built it. We built it because we were afraid that in the future your descendants might not accept us as part of God's people. So your children might say to our children, ‘You people have no reason to worship the Lord , the God of Israel.

George Lamsa Translation
And if we have not rather done this thing because of reverence to him, so that in time to come your children might not say to our children, What have you to do with the LORD God of Israel, O you Reubenites and Gadites?

Good News Translation
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?

Literal Translation
But surely from anxiety, for a reason, we have done this, saying, In the future your sons shall speak to our sons, saying, What is to you and to Jehovah the God of Israel?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And yf we haue not done it rather for very feare of this thinge, and sayde: To daye or tomorow mighte youre children saye vnto oure children: What haue ye to do with the LORDE the God of Israel?

American Standard Version
and if we have not rather out of carefulness done this, and of purpose, saying, In time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying, What have ye to do with Jehovah, the God of Israel?

Bible in Basic English
And if we have not, in fact, done this designedly and with purpose, having in our minds the fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And yf we haue not rather done it for feare of this thyng, saying, In tyme to come your chyldren myght say vnto ours: What haue you to do with the Lorde God of Israel?

JPS Old Testament (1917)
and if we have not rather out of anxiety about a matter done this, saying: In time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying: What have ye to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?

King James Version (1611)
And if we haue not rather done it for feare of this thing, saying, In time to come your children might speake vnto our children, saying, What haue you to doe with the Lord God of Israel?

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
But we have done this for the sake of precaution concerning this thing, saying, Lest hereafter your sons should say to our sons, What have ye to do with the Lord God of Israel?

English Revised Version
and if we have not rather out of carefulness done this, and of purpose, saying, In time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying, What have ye to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?

Berean Standard Bible
But in fact we have done this for fear that in the future your descendants might say to ours, 'What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and not more `bi that thouyt and tretyng that we seiden, Youre sones schulen seie `to morew to oure sones, What is to you and to the Lord God of Israel? Ye sones of Ruben,

Young's Literal Translation
`And if not, from fear of [this] thing we have done it, saying, Hereafter your sons do speak to ours sons, saying, What to you and to Jehovah God of Israel?

Update Bible Version
And if we have not [rather] out of carefulness done this, [and] of purpose, saying, In time to come your sons might speak to our sons, saying, What do you have to do with Yahweh, the God of Israel?

Webster's Bible Translation
And if we have not [rather] done it for fear of [this] thing, saying, In time to come your children may speak to our children, saying, What have ye to do with the LORD God of Israel?

World English Bible
and if we have not [rather] out of carefulness done this, [and] of purpose, saying, In time to come your children might speak to our children, saying, What have you to do with Yahweh, the God of Israel?

New King James Version
But in fact we have done it for fear, for a reason, saying, "In time to come your descendants may speak to our descendants, saying, "What have you to do with the LORD God of Israel?

New Living Translation
"The truth is, we have built this altar because we fear that in the future your descendants will say to ours, ‘What right do you have to worship the Lord , the God of Israel?

New Life Bible
We have done this because we were afraid that in time to come your children might say to our children, ‘What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel?

New Revised Standard
No! We did it from fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, ‘What have you to do with the Lord , the God of Israel?

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
if, indeed, we have not, rather, out of anxiety and of purpose, done this thing, saying, - . In time to come, your sons might speak to our sons, saying, What have ye to do with Yahweh, God of Israel;

Revised Standard Version
Nay, but we did it from fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, 'What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?

THE MESSAGE
"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 .

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"But truly we have done this out of concern, for a reason, saying, 'In time to come your sons may say to our sons, "What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?

Contextual Overview

²¹ And the children of Ruben, and of Gad, and of the half tribe of Manasses answered the princes of the embassage of Israel: ²² The Lord the most mighty God, the Lord the most mighty God, he knoweth, and Israel also shall understand: If with the design of transgression we have set up this altar, let him not save us, but punish us immediately: ²³ And if we did it with that mind, that we might lay upon it holocausts, and sacrifice, and victims of peace offerings, let him require and judge: ²⁴ And not rather with this thought and design, that we should say: To morrow your children will say to our children: What have you to do with the Lord the God of Israel? ²⁵ The Lord hath put the river Jordan for a border between us and you, O ye children of Ruben, and ye children of Gad: and therefore you have no part in the Lord. And by this occasion your children shall turn away our children from the fear of the Lord. We therefore thought it best, ²⁶ And said: Let us build us an altar, not for holocausts, nor to offer victims, ²⁷ But for a testimony between us and you, and our posterity and yours, that we may serve the Lord, and that we may have a right to offer both holocausts, and victims and sacrifices of peace offerings: and that your children to morrow may not say to our children: You have no part in the Lord. ²⁸ And if they will say so, they shall answer them: Behold the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for holocausts, nor for sacrifice, but for a testimony between us and you. ²⁹ God keep us from any such wickedness that we should revolt from the Lord, and leave off following his steps, by building an altar to offer holocausts, and sacrifices, and victims, beside the altar of the Lord our God, which is erected before his tabernacle.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

for fear: Genesis 18:19

In time to come: Heb. To-morrow, Joshua 4:6, Genesis 30:33, Exodus 13:14, Deuteronomy 6:20, *marg.

Reciprocal: Psalms 78:6 - who

Cross-References

Genesis 16:3
She took Agar the Egyptian her handmaid, ten years after they first dwelt in the land of Chanaan, and gave her to her husband to wife.

Genesis 25:6
And to the children of the concubines he gave gifts, and separated them from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, to the east country.

Proverbs 15:25
The Lord will destroy the house of the proud: and will strengthen the borders of the widow.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And if we have not [rather] done it for fear of [this] thing,.... So far they suggest were they from doing this, in order to turn from the pure worship of God, and introduce idolatrous worship, that it was to guard against everything of that kind for the future; and through fear of it, and anxiety and distress of mind, lest some time or another there should be any temptation to it in their posterity, had they built this altar:

saying, in time to come your children might speak unto our children; or "tomorrow" m, in a short time after your heads, and ours, are laid in the grave, your posterity will accost us:

saying, what have you to do with the Lord God of Israel? you are aliens and strangers from the commonwealth of Israel, live in a foreign land, and not in the land, of Canaan; are separated from us by the river Jordan, are a different people from us, and have nothing to do with the tabernacle of the Lord, and the service of it, or with the altar of the Lord, to offer sacrifice on it. Now as they returned to their own country, or when got there, such anxious thoughts and fears rose up in their minds, which they communicated to one another, and thought of this expedient to prevent what would be so fatal to their posterity. The Targum is,

"you have no part in the Word of the Lord God of Israel;''

see John 13:8.

m מחר "cras", Pagninus, Montanus, &c.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Joshua 22:24. For fear of this thing — The motive that actuated us was directly the reverse of that of which we have been suspected.