Bible Strands
Joshua 22:15
They went to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead and said to them,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — A delegation of ten Israelite family leaders arrives in Gilead to confront the Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh immediately after learning they built an altar.
The words — The Hebrew verb וַיָּבֹא (vayyavo) literally means "and they went," denoting the physical approach of the messengers to the eastern tribes.
The thread — This inquiry into unauthorized worship parallels the covenant violation patterns in Exodus 32:8 and Leviticus 5:19, where deviation from commanded practice triggers formal accountability.
Why it lands — It requires a direct explanation for any action that fractures communal unity or substitutes human initiative for divine instruction.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And they came unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, unto the land of Gilead, and they spake with them, saying,
Cross-references
- Exodus 32:8 How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it. They have sacrificed to it and said, ‘These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”
- Leviticus 5:19 It is a guilt offering; he was certainly guilty before the LORD.”
- Leviticus 17:8 Tell them that if anyone from the house of Israel or any foreigner living among them offers a burnt offering or a sacrifice
- Leviticus 26:40 But if they will confess their iniquity and that of their fathers in the unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, by which they have also walked in hostility toward Me—
- Numbers 5:6 “Tell the Israelites that when a man or woman acts unfaithfully against the LORD by committing any sin against another, that person is guilty
- Numbers 14:43 For there the Amalekites and Canaanites will face you, and you will fall by the sword. Because you have turned away from the LORD, He will not be with you.”
- Numbers 32:15 For if you turn away from following Him, He will once again leave this people in the wilderness, and you will be the cause of their destruction.”
- Deuteronomy 7:4 because they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and He will swiftly destroy you.
- Deuteronomy 12:4 You shall not worship the LORD your God in this way.
- Deuteronomy 12:13 Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings in just any place you see;