Discovery BoxJoshua 22:22-29 
Context22:22 “El, God, the Lord! 1 El, God, the Lord! He knows the truth! 2 Israel must also know! If we have rebelled or disobeyed the Lord, 3 don’t spare us 4 today! 22:23 If we have built 5 an altar for ourselves to turn back from following the Lord by making 6 burnt sacrifices and grain offerings on it, or by offering 7 tokens of peace 8 on it, the Lord himself will punish us. 9 22:24 We swear we have done this because we were worried that 10 in the future your descendants would say to our descendants, ‘What relationship do you have with the Lord God of Israel? 11 22:25 The Lord made the Jordan a boundary between us and you Reubenites and Gadites. You have no right to worship the Lord.’ 12 In this way your descendants might cause our descendants to stop obeying 13 the Lord. 22:26 So we decided to build this altar, not for burnt offerings and sacrifices, 22:27 but as a reminder to us and you, 14 and to our descendants who follow us, that we will honor the Lord in his very presence 15 with burnt offerings, sacrifices, and tokens of peace. 16 Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to our descendants, ‘You have no right to worship the Lord.’ 17 22:28 We said, ‘If in the future they say such a thing 18 to us or to our descendants, we will reply, “See the model of the Lord’s altar that our ancestors 19 made, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a reminder to us and you.”’ 20 22:29 Far be it from us to rebel against the Lord by turning back today from following after the Lord by building an altar for burnt offerings, sacrifices, and tokens of peace 21 aside from the altar of the Lord our God located in front of his dwelling place!” 22
1 sn Israel’s God is here identified with three names: (1) אֵל (’el), “El” (or “God”); (2) אֱלֹהִים (’elohim), “Elohim” (or “God”), and (3) יְהוָה (yÿhvah), “Yahweh” (or “the
2 tn Heb “he knows.”
3 tn Heb “if in rebellion or if in unfaithfulness against the
4 tn Heb “do not save us.” The verb form is singular, being addressed to either collective Israel or the Lord himself. The LXX translates in the third person.
5 tn Heb “by building.” The prepositional phrase may be subordinated to what precedes, “if in unfaithfulness…by building.”
6 tn Heb “or if to offer up.”
7 tn Heb “or if to make.”
8 tn Or “peace offerings.”
9 tn Heb “the
10 tn Heb “Surely, from worry concerning a matter we have done this, saying.”
11 tn Heb “What is there to you and to the
12 tn Heb “You have no portion in the
13 tn Heb “fearing.”
14 tn Heb “but it is a witness between us and you.”
15 tn Heb “to do the service of the
16 tn Or “peace offerings.”
17 tn Heb “You have no portion in the
18 tn The words “such a thing” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
19 tn Heb “fathers.”
20 tn Heb “but it is a witness between us and you.”
21 tn Or “peace offerings.”
22 sn The Lord’s dwelling place here refers to the tabernacle.
