1. Joshua called the men of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh to a meeting, and he told them:
2-3. You have obeyed every command of the Lord your God and of his servant Moses. And you have done everything I've told you to do. It's taken a long time, but you have stayed and helped your relatives.
4. The Lord promised to give peace to your relatives, and that's what he has done. Now it's time for you to go back to your own homes in the land that Moses gave you east of the River Jordan.
5. Moses taught you to love the Lord your God, to be faithful to him, and to worship and obey him with your whole heart and with all your strength. So be very careful to do everything Moses commanded.
6-9. You've become rich from what you've taken from your enemies. You have big herds of cattle, lots of silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and plenty of clothes. Take everything home with you and share it with the people of your tribe.I pray that God will be kind to you. You are now free to go home.The tribes of Reuben and Gad started back to Gilead, their own land. Moses had given the land of Bashan to the East Manasseh tribe, so they started back along with Reuben and Gad. God had told Moses that these two and a half tribes should conquer Gilead and Bashan, and they had done so.Joshua had given land west of the River Jordan to the other half of the Manasseh tribe, so they stayed at Shiloh in the land of Canaan with the rest of the Israelites.
10-11. The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh reached the western side of the Jordan Valley and built a huge altar there beside the river.When the rest of the Israelites heard what these tribes had done,
12. the Israelite men met at Shiloh to get ready to attack the two and a half tribes.
13. But first they sent a priest, Phinehas the son of Eleazar, to talk with the two and a half tribes.
14. Each of the tribes at Shiloh sent the leader of one of its families along with Phinehas.
15. Phinehas and these leaders went to Gilead and met with the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh. They said: