Omapata taa shuna koilando yao
1 Opo nee Josua okwa ifana Ovarubeni nOvagad netata lepata lOvamanasse 2 ndele ta ti kuvo: “Nye mwa diinina ashishe eshi Moses, omupiya wOmwene, e mu lombwela, ndele mwa uda nge mwaashishe nde shi mu lombwela. 3 Nye inamu efa oovakweni mefimbo eli lile fiyo onena, ndelenee mwa diinina oshipango eshi mwe shi lombwelwa kOmwene Kalunga keni. 4 Ndelenee paife Omwene Kalunga keni a pa ovamwanyoko etulumuko ngaashi Ye e va udanekela. Hano shuneni mu ye komatwali eni koshilongo mwe shi pewa kuMoses, omupiya waKalunga, kombada yaJordan. 5 Ashike diinineni shili oshipango nomhango ei, Moses omupiya wOmwene, e mu lombwela mu kale nokuhola Omwene Kalunga keni nokweenda neendjila daye adishe nokudiinina oipango yaye nokukanyatela muye noku mu longela nomutima weni aushe nomwenyo weni aushe.” 6 Opo nee Josua okwe va nangeka noupuna ndele te va lekele. Ndele vo ova ya komatwali avo.
7 Ndelenee etata limwe lepata laManasse, Moses okwe li pa oshitukulwafyuululwa muBasan, netata likwao lepata, Josua okwe li pa oshitukulwa pamwe novamwaina, kombinga ei yaJordan mouninginino. Ndele Josua eshi e va lekela va ye komatwali avo, ye okwe va nangeka yo noupuna, 8 nokwa popya navo ndele ta ti: “Shuneni ko komatwali eni noupuna muhapu neemhunga doimuna noshisiliveli noshingoldo noshikushu noshivela noikutu ihapu. Oixuulwa yokovatondadi veni i liyandjeleni novamwanyoko.”
9 Osho ngaha hano ovana vaRuben novana vaGad netata lepata laManasse va shuna ndele va dja po povana vaIsrael muSilo, osho shi li medu laKaanan, va ya kedu laGilead, koshilongo shavo oko va pewa oshitukulwalongo shavo kuMoses palombwelo lOmwene. 10 Ovana vaRuben novana vaGad netata lepata laManasse eshi ve uya koyuunda yomamanya puJordan, ei i li medu laKaanan, ova tunga ko oaltari puJordan, oaltari inene unene. 11 Ndelenee ovana vaIsrael eshi va uda tapa tiwa: Taleni, ovana vaRuben novana vaGad netata lepata laManasse, ova tunga oaltari ya shaama nedu laKaanan poyuunda yopuJordan kombinga yovana vaIsrael, 12 ovana vaIsrael eshi ve shi uda, eongalo alishe lovana vaIsrael la ongala muSilo, opo ve va homone. 13 Novana vaIsrael va tuma Pinehas yaEliaser, omupristeli kovana vaRuben nokovana vaGad noketata lepata laManasse medu laGilead, 14 nomalenga omulongo pamwe naye, elenga limwe koludi keshe lomapata aeshe aIsrael. Keshe limwe la li omukulunhu woludi lomapata aIsrael. 15 Vo eshi ve uya kovana vaRuben nokovana vaGad noketata lepata lovana vaManasse medu laGilead, vo ova popya navo ndele tava ti: 16 Eongalo alishe lOmwene tali ti ngaha: “Nye omwa tauluka ngahelipi eudafano nokuliteeka Kalunga kaIsrael, nye eshi tamu liteeka Omwene nena eli, eshi mwe litungila oaltari ndele tamu tu ondubo nOmwene paife? 17 Okunyona kwetu molwaPeor nani inaku tu wanena nofiyo onena eli inatu koshwa molwokunyona oko, nomolwakwo ehandukilo la hanga eongalo lOmwene? 18 Ndele nye mwa hala paife okuliteeka Omwene; nye ngeenge tamu tu ondubo nOmwene, nena Ye ota ka handukila mongula eongalo alishe laIsrael. 19 Ndelenee oshitukulwalongo ngeenge inashi yela, ileni moshilongo shoovene shOmwene, omo mu na etwali liyapuki lOmwene, mu tule mokati ketu. Ndelenee inamu twa ondubo nOmwene ndele inamu twa ondubo nafye mokulitungila oaltari ponho yoaltari yOmwene Kalunga ketu. 20 Akan yaSera eshi a kufa mo moinima ya tokolelwa ehanauno, ehandu inali uya nani kombada yeongalo alishe laIsrael? Ndele haye mwene aeke a nyonauka molwokunyona kwaye.”
21 Opo nee ovana vaRuben novana vaGad netata lepata laManasse ova nyamukula, ndele tava ti kovakulunhu vomapata aIsrael: 22 “Kalunga koikalunga, Omwene, heeno, Kalunga koikalunga, Omwene, Ye e shi shii! NaIsrael yo na kale e shi shii! Fye ngeenge twa twa ondubo ile twe liteeka Omwene, Omwene ino tu kwafa nena eli, 23 eshi twe litungila oaltari tu liteeke ngeno Omwene. Ndele ngeenge twe i tunga tu yambe kuyo omaxwikiloyambo neendjayambo ile tu yambe kuyo omapanduloyambo, Omwene Ye mwene ne shi ngumaune po. 24 Ndelenee oshili, fye twe shi ninga molwoshisho eshi: ‘Komesho ovana veni tava dulu okulombwela ovana vetu ndele tava ti: Nye omu na shike nOmwene Kalunga kaIsrael? 25 Omwene, tu shii, okwa tula po Jordan ngaashi ongaba pokati ketu nanye, ovana vaRuben novana vaGad.’ Nye muhe noshitukulwa mOmwene. Osho ngaha hano ovana vetu itava tila vali Omwene omolwovana veni. 26 Onghee twa tya: Tu litungileni oaltari ndelenee hakuyamba omaxwikiloyambo nomatomenoyambo, 27 ndelenee opo shi ninge ondobwedi pokati ketu nanye nomaludalo etu konima yetu, opo tu longe eyakulolonga lOmwene koshipala shaye nomaxwikiloyambo etu nomatomenoyambo etu nomapanduloyambo etu, opo ovana veni komesho vaha ka shiive okutya: ‘Nye kamu na mo sha mOmwene.’ 28 Ndele fye otwa diladila nokutya: ‘Vo ngeenge tave shi tu lombwele komesho, noludalo letu, fye ohatu ka tya: Taleni oshiyelekela shoaltari yOmwene ootate va ninga hakuyamba omaxwikiloyambo nomatomenoyambo, opo i kale ondobwedi pokati ketu nanye.’ 29 Nashi kale kokule nafye tu kale tu nondubo nOmwene ndele tu liteeke nena Omwene mokutunga oaltari yomaxwikiloyambo noyeendjayambo noyomatomenoyambo ponho yoaltari yOmwene Kalunga ketu, oyo i li komesho yetwali laye liyapuki.”
30 Omupristeli Pinehas novakulunhu veongalo novakulunhu vomapata aIsrael, ava va li pamwe naye, eshi va uda eendjovo odo da popiwa kovana vaRuben nokovana vaGad nokovana vaManasse, da li diwa momatwi avo. 31 Opo nee omupristeli Pinehas yaEliaser ta lombwele ovana vaRuben novana vaGad novana vaManasse ta ti: “Paife eshi tu shi shii nokutya, Omwene oku li mokati ketu, nye eshi inamu liteeka Omwene. Osho ngaha hano mwa xupifa ovana vaIsrael vaha hangike keke lOmwene.” 32 Opo nee omupristeli Pinehas yaEliaser novakulunhu va shuna va dja po povana vaRuben novaGad medu laGilead, va ya kedu laKaanan kovana vaIsrael, ndele ve va twaalela enyamukulo. 33 Nenyamukulo ola li liwa momatwi ovana vaIsrael, novana vaIsrael va hambelela Kalunga. Ndele vo inava diladila vali ve va homone nokunyona po edu omo ovana vaRuben novana vaGad va kala. 34 Novana vaRuben novana vaGad va luka oaltari ondobwedi: “Osho ondobwedi pokati ketu nokutya, Omwene Oye Kalunga.”
The Two and a Half Tribes Return Home
1 Joshua held a meeting with the men of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh, 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 Jordan River.
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 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 Jordan River 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 River 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 ten 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:
16 All of the Lord's people have gathered together and have sent us to find out why you are unfaithful to our God. You have turned your backs on the Lord by building that altar. Why are you rebelling against him? 17 Wasn't our people's sin at Peor terrible enough for you? The Lord punished us by sending a horrible sickness that killed many of us, and we still suffer because of that sin. 18 Now you are turning your backs on the Lord again.
If you don't stop rebelling against the Lord at once, he will be angry with the whole nation. 19 If you don't think your land is a fit place to serve God, then move across the Jordan and live with us in the Lord's own land, where his sacred tent is located. But don't rebel against the Lord our God or against us by building another altar besides the Lord's own altar. 20 Don't you remember what happened when Achan was unfaithful and took some of the things that belonged to God? This made God angry with the entire nation. Achan died because he sinned, but he also caused the death of many others.
21 The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh answered:
22 The Lord is the greatest God! We ask him to be our witness, because he knows whether or not we were rebellious or unfaithful when we built that altar. If we were unfaithful, then we pray that God won't rescue us today. Let us tell you why we built that altar, 23 and we ask the Lord to punish us if we are lying. We didn't build it so we could turn our backs on the Lord. We didn't even build it so we could offer animal or grain sacrifices to please the Lord or ask his blessing.
24-25 We built that altar because we were worried. Someday your descendants might tell our descendants, “The Lord made the Jordan River the boundary between us Israelites and you people of Reuben and Gad. The Lord is Israel's God, but you're not part of Israel, so you can't take part in worshiping the Lord.”
Your descendants might say that and try to make our descendants stop worshiping and obeying the Lord. 26 That's why we decided to build the altar. It isn't for offering sacrifices, not even sacrifices to please the Lord. 27-29 To build another altar for offering sacrifices would be the same as turning our backs on the Lord and rebelling against him. We could never do that! No, we built the altar to remind us and you and the generations to come that we will worship the Lord. And so we will keep bringing our sacrifices to the Lord's altar, there in front of his sacred tent. Now your descendants will never be able to say to our descendants, “You can't worship the Lord.”
But if they do say this, our descendants can answer back, “Look at this altar our ancestors built! It's like the Lord's altar, but it isn't for offering sacrifices. It's here to remind us and you that we belong to the Lord, just as much as you do.”
30-31 Phinehas and the clan leaders were pleased when they heard the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh explain why they had built the altar. Then Phinehas told them, “Today we know that the Lord is helping us. You have not been unfaithful to him, and this means that the Lord will not be angry with us.”
32 Phinehas and the clan leaders left Gilead and went back to Canaan to tell the Israelites about their meeting with the Reuben and Gad tribes. 33 The Israelites were happy and praised God. There was no more talk about going to war and wiping out the tribes of Reuben and Gad.
34 The people of Reuben and Gad named the altar “A Reminder to Us All That the Lord Is Our God.”
