Tanakh & Talmud. Various Authors

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СКАЧАТЬ the open land about it, Jazer with the open land about it; four cities in all. ⁴⁰All these were the cities of the children of Merari according to their families, even the rest of the families of the Levites; and their lot was twelve cities.

      ⁴¹All the cities of the Levites—forty and eight cities with the open land about them—shall be in the midst of the possession of the children of Israel, ⁴²even these cities, every one with the open land round about it; thus it shall be with all these cities.

      ⁴³So the Lord gave unto Israel all the land which He swore to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. ⁴⁴And the Lord gave them rest round about, according to all that He swore unto their fathers; and there stood not a man of all their enemies against them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. ⁴⁵There failed not aught of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.

      22Then Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, ²and said unto them: 'Ye have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, and have hearkened unto my voice in all that I commanded you; ³ye have not left your brethren these many days unto this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord your God. ⁴And now the Lord your God hath given rest unto your brethren, as He spoke unto them; therefore now turn ye, and get you unto your tents, unto the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the Jordan. ⁵Only take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments, and to cleave unto Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.' ⁶So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away; and they went unto their tents.

      ⁷Now to the one half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given inheritance in Bashan; but unto the other half gave Joshua among their brethren beyond the Jordan westward. Moreover when Joshua sent them away unto their tents, he blessed them, ⁸and spoke unto them, saying: 'Return with much wealth unto your tents, and with very much cattle, with silver, and with gold, and with brass, and with iron, and with very much raiment; divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren.'

      ⁹And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the children of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go unto the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession, whereof they were possessed, according to the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses. ¹⁰And when they came unto the region about the Jordan, that is in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, a great altar to look upon. ¹¹And the children of Israel heard say: 'Behold, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar in the forefront of the land of Canaan, in the region about the Jordan, on the side that pertaineth to the children of Israel.' ¹²And when the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up against them to war.

      ¹³And the children of Israel sent unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest; ¹⁴and with him ten princes, one prince of a fathers' house for each of the tribes of Israel; and they were every one of them head of their fathers' houses among the thousands of Israel. ¹⁵And they came unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, unto the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying: ¹⁶'Thus saith the whole congregation of the Lord: What treachery is this that ye have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the Lord, in that ye have builded you an altar, to rebel this day against the Lord? ¹⁷Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves unto this day, although there came a plague upon the congregation of the Lord, ¹⁸that ye must turn away this day from following the Lord? and it will be, seeing ye rebel to-day against the Lord, that to-morrow He will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel. ¹⁹Howbeit, if the land of your possession be unclean, then pass ye over unto the land of the possession of the Lord, wherein the Lord's tabernacle dwelleth, and take possession among us; but rebel not against the Lord, nor rebel against us, in building you an altar besides the altar of the Lord our God. ²⁰Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass concerning the devoted thing, and wrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel? and that man perished not alone in his iniquity.'

      ²¹Then 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: ²²'God, God, the Lord, God, God, the Lord, He knoweth, and Israel he shall know; if it be in rebellion, or if in treachery against the Lord—save Thou us not this day—²³that we have built us an altar to turn away from following the Lord; or if to offer thereon burnt-offering or meal-offering, or if to offer sacrifices of peace-offerings thereon, let the Lord Himself require it; ²⁴and 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? ²⁵for the Lord hath made the Jordan a border between us and you, ye children of Reuben and children of Gad; ye have no portion in the Lord; so might your children make our children cease from fearing the Lord. ²⁶Therefore we said: Let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt-offering, nor for sacrifice; ²⁷but it shall be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we may do the service of the Lord before Him with our burnt-offerings, and with our sacrifices, and with our peace-offerings; that your children may not say to our children in time to come: Ye have no portion in the Lord. ²⁸Therefore said we: It shall be, when they so say to us or to our generations in time to come, that we shall say: Behold the pattern of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt-offering, nor for sacrifice; but it is a witness between us and you. ²⁹Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord, and turn away this day from following the Lord, to build an altar for burnt-offering, for meal-offering, or for sacrifice, besides the altar of the Lord our God that is before His tabernacle.'

      ³⁰And when Phinehas the priest, and the princes of the congregation, even the heads of the thousands of Israel that were with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them well. ³¹And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the children of Manasseh: 'This day we know that the Lord is in the midst of us, because ye have not committed this treachery against the Lord; now have ye delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the Lord.' ³²And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the princes, returned from the children of Reuben, and from the children of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, unto the land of Canaan, to the children of Israel, and brought them back word. ³³And the thing pleased the children of Israel; and the children of Israel blessed God, and spoke no more of going up against them to war, to destroy the land wherein the children of Reuben and the children of Gad dwelt. ³⁴And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar—: 'for it is a witness between us that the Lord is God.'

      23And it came to pass after many days, when the Lord had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, and Joshua was old and well stricken in years; ²that Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders and for their heads, and for their judges and for their officers, and said unto them: 'I am old and well stricken in years. ³And ye have seen all that the Lord your God hath done unto all these nations because of you; for the Lord your God, He it is that hath fought for you. ⁴Behold, I have allotted unto you for an inheritance, according to your tribes, these nations that remain, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even unto the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun. ⁵And the Lord your God, He shall thrust them out from before you, СКАЧАТЬ