Study Desk

To them were given Shechem, the city of refuge for the slayer, with its pasture lands in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its pasture lands,

To the Gershonites, one of the families of the Levites, were given out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the slayer, and Beeshterah with its pasture lands—two towns.

Out of the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the slayer, Hammoth-dor with its pasture lands, and Kartan with its pasture lands—three towns.

Out of the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the slayer, Mahanaim with its pasture lands,

As for the towns of the several Merarite families, that is, the remainder of the families of the Levites, those allotted to them were twelve in all.

And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their ancestors; not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands.

Have we not had enough of the sin at Peor from which even yet we have not cleansed ourselves, and for which a plague came upon the congregation of the Lord ,

But now, if your land is unclean, cross over into the Lord 's land where the Lord 's tabernacle now stands, and take for yourselves a possession among us; only do not rebel against the Lord , or rebel against us by building yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Lord our God.

Did not Achan son of Zerah break faith in the matter of the devoted things, and wrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel? And he did not perish alone for his iniquity!'"

for building an altar to turn away from following the Lord ; or if we did so to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings or offerings of well-being on it, may the Lord himself take vengeance.

For the Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you Reubenites and Gadites; you have no portion in the Lord .' So your children might make our children cease to worship the Lord .

Therefore we said, ‘Let us now build an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice,

And we thought, If this should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we could say, ‘Look at this copy of the altar of the Lord , which our ancestors made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifice, but to be a witness between us and you.'

Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord , and turn away this day from following the Lord by building an altar for burnt offering, grain offering, or sacrifice, other than the altar of the Lord our God that stands before his tabernacle!"

The Reubenites and the Gadites called the altar Witness; "For," said they, "it is a witness between us that the Lord is God."

and you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake, for it is the Lord your God who has fought for you.

I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes those nations that remain, along with all the nations that I have already cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west.

For the Lord has driven out before you great and strong nations; and as for you, no one has been able to withstand you to this day.

One of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the Lord your God who fights for you, as he promised you.

For if you turn back, and join the survivors of these nations left here among you, and intermarry with them, so that you marry their women and they yours,