16. "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?
17. "Don't you remember how we sinned at Peor? The Lord struck us with a plague because of what we did. Up to this very day we're still suffering because of that sin.
18. 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.
19. "If your own land isn't 'clean,' 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.
20. "Remember 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 Lord's anger come on the whole community of Israel? And Achan wasn't the only one who died because of his sin."
21. 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.
22. 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.
23. "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.
24. "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?
25. 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.
26. "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.'
27. "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.'
28. "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." '
29. "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."