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

“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

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

“ 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 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

Then the Israelites heard it said,“ Look, the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the frontier of the land of Canaan at the region of the Jordan, on the Israelite side.”When the Israelites heard this, the entire Israelite community assembled at Shiloh to go to war against them.The Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead.They sent 10 leaders with him— one family leader for each tribe of Israel. All of them were heads of their families among the clans of Israel.They went to the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and told them,“ This is what the Lord’s entire community says:‘ What is this treachery you have committed today against the God of Israel by turning away from the Lord and building an altar for yourselves, so that you are in rebellion against the Lord today?Wasn’t the sin of Peor, which brought a plague on the Lord’s community, enough for us, so that we have not cleansed ourselves from it even to this day,and now, you would turn away from the Lord? If you rebel against the Lord today, tomorrow He will be angry with the entire community of Israel.But if the land you possess is defiled, cross over to the land the Lord possesses where the Lord’s tabernacle stands, and take possession of it among us. But don’t rebel against the Lord or against us by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Lord our God.Wasn’t Achan son of Zerah unfaithful regarding what was set apart for destruction, bringing wrath on the entire community of Israel? He was not the only one who perished because of his sin.’”The Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders of the Israelite clans,“ Yahweh is the God of gods! Yahweh is the God of gods! He knows, and may Israel also know. Do not spare us today, if it was in rebellion or treachery against the Lordthat we have built for ourselves an altar to turn away from Him. May the Lord Himself hold us accountable if we intended to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings on it, or to sacrifice fellowship offerings on it.We actually did this from a specific concern that in the future your descendants might say to our descendants,‘ What relationship do you have with the Lord, the God of Israel?For the Lord has made the Jordan a border between us and you descendants of Reuben and Gad. You have no share in the Lord!’ So your descendants may cause our descendants to stop fearing the Lord.“ Therefore we said: Let us take action and build an altar for ourselves, but not for burnt offering or sacrifice.Instead, it is to be a witness between us and you, and between the generations after us, so that we may carry out the worship of the Lord in His presence with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and fellowship offerings. Then in the future, your descendants will not be able to say to our descendants,‘ You have no share in the Lord!’We thought that if they said this to us or to our generations in the future, we would reply: Look at the replica of the Lord’s altar that our fathers made, not for burnt offering or sacrifice, but as a witness between us and you.We would never rebel against the Lord or turn away from Him today by building an altar for burnt offering, grain offering, or sacrifice, other than the altar of the Lord our God, which is in front of His tabernacle.”When Phinehas the priest and the community leaders, the heads of Israel’s clans who were with him, heard what the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh had to say, they were pleased.Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest said to the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh,“ Today we know that the Lord is among us, because you have not committed this treachery against Him. As a result, you have delivered the Israelites from the Lord’s power.”Then Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest and the leaders returned from the Reubenites and Gadites in the land of Gilead to the Israelites in the land of Canaan and brought back a report to them.The Israelites were pleased with the report, and they praised God. They spoke no more about going to war against them to ravage the land where the Reubenites and Gadites lived.So the Reubenites and Gadites named the altar: It is a witness between us that the Lord is God.

All the Israelites from Dan to Beer-sheba and from the land of Gilead came out, and the community assembled as one body before the Lord at Mizpah.The leaders of all the people and of all the tribes of Israel presented themselves in the assembly of God’s people: 400,000 armed foot soldiers.The Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah. The Israelites asked,“ Tell us, how did this outrage occur?”The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered:“ I went to Gibeah in Benjamin with my concubine to spend the night.Citizens of Gibeah ganged up on me and surrounded the house at night. They intended to kill me, but they raped my concubine, and she died.Then I took my concubine and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout Israel’s territory, because they committed a horrible shame in Israel.Look, all of you are Israelites. Give your judgment and verdict here and now.”Then all the people stood united and said,“ None of us will go to his tent or return to his house.Now this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will go against it by lot.We will take 10 men out of every 100 from all the tribes of Israel, and 100 out of every 1,000, and 1,000 out of every 10,000 to get provisions for the people when they go to Gibeah in Benjamin to punish them for all the horror they did in Israel.”So all the men of Israel gathered united against the city.Then the tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying,“ What is this outrage that has occurred among you?Hand over the perverted men in Gibeah so we can put them to death and eradicate evil from Israel.” But the Benjaminites would not obey their fellow Israelites.Instead, the Benjaminites gathered together from their cities to Gibeah to go out and fight against the Israelites.On that day the Benjaminites rallied 26,000 armed men from their cities, besides 700 choice men rallied by the inhabitants of Gibeah.There were 700 choice men who were left-handed among all these people; all could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.The Israelites, apart from Benjamin, rallied 400,000 armed men, every one an experienced warrior.