The Eastern Tribes’ Altar of Witness

10 And when they came to the region of the Jordan that is in the land of Canaan, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar of imposing size.

18 So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up ^cfor a pillar ^dand poured oil on the top of it.

46 And Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. 47 Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha,¹ but Jacob called it Galeed.² 48 Laban said, ^m“This heap is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore he named it Galeed, 49 ⁿand Mizpah,³ for he said, “The Lord watch between you and me, when we are out of one another’s sight. 50 If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, ^oGod is witness between you and me.”

51 Then Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap and the pillar, which I have set between you and me. 52 ^pThis heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm.

5 And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, 6 that this may be a sign among you. ^yWhen your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ 7 then you shall tell them that ^zthe waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel ^aa memorial forever.”

8 And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, just as the Lord told Joshua. And they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down¹ there. 9 And Joshua set up² twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, ^bin the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood; and they are there to this day.

25 For the Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you people of Reuben and people of Gad. You have no portion in the Lord.’ So your children might make our children cease to worship the Lord. 26 Therefore we said, ‘Let us now build an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice, 27 but to be ^ua witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we ^vdo perform the service of the Lord in his presence with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings, so your children will not say to our children in time to come, “You have no portion in the Lord.”’ 28 And we thought, ‘If this should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we should say, “Behold, the copy of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifice, but to be ^ua witness between us and you.”’

26 And Joshua ^vwrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And ^whe took a large stone and set it up there ^xunder the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. 27 And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, ^ythis stone shall be a witness against us, for ^zit has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.”