The Lord your God is giving you towns to live in. But suppose you hear something bad about one of those towns.

“在耶和华你神所赐你居住的各城中，你若听人说，有些匪类从你们中间的一座城出来勾引本城的居民，说：‘我们不如去侍奉你们素来所不认识的别神’；

“若你听见人说，在耶和华—你上帝所赐给你居住的城镇中的一座，

“若你听见人说，在耶和华—你神所赐给你居住的城镇中的一座，

“在你们的上帝耶和华将要赐给你们居住的各城中，如果你们听说某城里有恶人引诱城中的居民偏离正路，唆使他们去供奉你们不认识的神明，

“在耶和华你的神赐给你居住的一座城中，如果你听说

「在耶和華－你神所賜你居住的各城中，你若聽人說，有些匪類從你們中間的一座城出來勾引本城的居民，說：『我們不如去事奉你們素來所不認識的別神』；

「若你聽見人說，在耶和華－你上帝所賜給你居住的城鎮中的一座，

「若你聽見人說，在耶和華－你神所賜給你居住的城鎮中的一座，

「在你們的上帝耶和華將要賜給你們居住的各城中，如果你們聽說某城裡有惡人引誘城中的居民偏離正路，唆使他們去供奉你們不認識的神明，

“在耶和華你的神賜給你居住的一座城中，如果你聽說

『在永恆主你的上帝所賜給你居住的一個城中、你若聽說

爾上帝耶和華賜爾諸邑、俾爾居之、

爾上帝耶和華、錫爾眾邑、俾爾居處、浸假一邑之中有匪類、誘其居民、事素所未識之上帝、爾聞之、

主爾之天主所賜爾居之諸邑、爾若聞一邑中有匪類出、誘其邑之民曰、我儕莫若往事異邦之神、即爾素所未識之神、

If you hear it said about one of the towns the Lord your God is giving you to live in

“ If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to dwell there,

“ When you begin living in the towns the Lord your God is giving you, you may hear

“ If you hear it said about one of your cities the LORD your God is giving you to live in,

“ If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to live in, anyone saying that

“ If you hear someone in one of your cities, which the Lord your God gives you to dwell in, saying,

If thou shalt hear tell concerning one of thy cities, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee to dwell there, saying,

“ If you hear it said about one of your cities the Lord your God is giving you to live in,

If thou shalt hear[ say] in one of thy cities, which the LORD thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying,

Suppose you should hear in one of your cities, which the LORD your God is giving you as a place to live, that

If you hear about one of your cities, which Yahweh your God gives you to dwell there, that

The rest of the Israelites heard that the eastern tribes had built the altar. They heard that it had been built on the border of Canaan at Geliloth. It was near the Jordan River on the west side.So the whole community of Israel gathered together at Shiloh. They decided to go to war against the eastern tribes.The Israelites sent Phinehas the priest to the land of Gilead. Phinehas was the son of Eleazar. They sent him to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh.They sent ten of their leaders with him. There was one from each of the tribes of Israel. Each man was the leader of a family group among the larger family groups of Israel.Those leaders went to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh. Those tribes were in the land of Gilead. The leaders said to them,“ We’re speaking for the Lord’ s whole community. How could you disobey the God of Israel like this? How could you turn away from the Lord? How could you disobey him by building an altar for yourselves?Don’t you remember how we sinned at Peor? The Lord struck us with a plague because of what we did. Up to this day we’re still suffering because of that sin.Are you turning away from the Lord now?“ Suppose you disobey the Lord today. If you do, he’ll be angry with the whole community of Israel tomorrow.If your own land is‘ unclean,’ come over to the Lord’ s land. It’s where his holy tent stands. Share our land with us. But don’t disobey the Lord. Don’t turn against us by building an altar for yourselves. Don’t build any altar other than the altar of the Lord our God.Remember what happened to Achan, the son of Zerah. Achan wasn’t faithful to the Lord. He took the things that had been set apart to the Lord in a special way to be destroyed. Didn’t the whole community of Israel experience the Lord’ s anger? Achan wasn’t the only one who died because of his sin.”Then the tribes of Reuben and Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh replied. They answered the leaders of the family groups of Israel.They said,“ The Mighty One, God, the Lord! The Mighty One, God, the Lord! He knows! And we want Israel to know! Have we opposed the Lord? Have we refused to obey him? If we have, don’t spare us today.Have we built our own altar so we can turn away from the Lord? Have we built it to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings on it? Have we built it to sacrifice friendship offerings on it? If we have, may the Lord himself hold us accountable.“ No! We built it because we were afraid. Someday your children might speak to our children. We were afraid they might say,‘ What do you have to do with the Lord? What do you have to do with the God of Israel?The Lord has made the Jordan River a border between us and you. You people of Reuben! You people of Gad! You don’t have anything to do with the Lord.’ If your children say that, they might cause our children to stop worshiping the Lord.“ That’s why we said to ourselves,‘ Let’s get ready and build an altar. But let’s not build it to offer burnt offerings or sacrifices on it.’So just the opposite is true. The altar will be a witness between us and you. It will be a witness between our children and yours after us. It will also be a witness that we will worship the Lord at his sacred tent. We’ll worship him there with our burnt offerings, sacrifices and friendship offerings. Then in days to come your children won’t be able to say to ours,‘ You don’t have anything to do with the Lord.’“ So we said to ourselves,‘ Suppose they say that to us sometime. Or suppose they say it to our children after us. Then we’ll answer,“ Look at this altar. It’s exactly like the Lord’ s altar. Our people built it. They didn’t build it to offer burnt offerings and sacrifices on it. Instead, they built it to be a witness between us and you.” ’“ We would never refuse to obey the Lord. We would never turn away from him now. We wouldn’t build an altar to offer burnt offerings, grain offerings and sacrifices on it. We wouldn’t use any altar other than the altar of the Lord our God. That altar stands in front of his holy tent.”Phinehas the priest heard what the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh had to say. The leaders of the family groups of the community of Israel heard it too. All of them were pleased with what they heard.Phinehas the priest spoke to the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh. Phinehas was the son of Eleazar. He said,“ Today we know that the Lord is with us. That’s because you have been faithful to him in this matter. Now you have saved the Israelites from the Lord’ s anger against them.”Then Phinehas the priest, the son of Eleazar, returned to Canaan. So did the leaders. All of them went back from their meeting with the tribes of Reuben and Gad in Gilead. They brought a report back to the Israelites.The people were glad to hear the report. They praised God. They didn’t talk anymore about going to war against the eastern tribes. And they didn’t talk anymore about destroying the country where the tribes of Reuben and Gad lived.The tribes of Reuben and Gad gave the altar a name. They called it A Witness Between Us that the Lord is God.

Then all the Israelites came out. They came from the whole land between Dan and Beersheba. They also came from the land of Gilead. All of them gathered together in front of the Lord at Mizpah.The leaders of all the tribes of Israel came. They took their places among the people of God gathered together. There were 400,000 men carrying swords.The tribe of Benjamin heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah. The Israelites said,“ Tell us how this awful thing happened.”So the Levite spoke. He was the husband of the woman who had been murdered. He said,“ I and my concubine went to Gibeah in Benjamin. We spent the night there.During the night the men of Gibeah came after me. They surrounded the house. They were planning to kill me. They raped my concubine, and she died.I took my concubine and cut her into pieces. I sent one piece to each part of Israel’s territory. I did it because the men of Gibeah had done a very terrible thing in Israel.All you men of Israel, speak up now. Tell me what you have decided to do.”All the men got up together. They said,“ None of us will go home. Not one of us will return to his house.Here is what we’ll do to Gibeah. We’ll cast lots to tell us how to attack the city.We’ll take ten men out of every 100 from all the tribes of Israel. We’ll take 100 from every 1,000. We’ll take 1,000 from every 10,000. The men we take will get supplies for the army. Then the army will go to Gibeah in Benjamin. They’ll give Gibeah exactly what they should get because of the terrible thing they did in Israel.”So all the men of Israel came together to fight against the city.The tribes of Israel sent people to carry a message through the whole tribe of Benjamin. They said,“ What about this awful crime that was committed among you?Hand over to us those evil men of Gibeah. We’ll put them to death. In that way we’ll get rid of those evil people.” But the people of Benjamin wouldn’t listen to the other Israelites.They came together at Gibeah from their towns. They came to fight against the other Israelites.Right away the people of Benjamin gathered together 26,000 men from their towns. They were carrying swords. These men were added to the 700 capable young men from Gibeah.Among all these men there were 700 who were left- handed. Each of them could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.Israel gathered 400,000 men together. They were carrying swords. All of them were trained for battle. That number didn’t include the tribe of Benjamin.