And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and put Him to the  ¹test, saying, Teacher,  ²what should I do to  ³inherit eternal life?

And He said to him, What is written in the law? How do you read it?

And he answered and said, “You shall love the Lord your God from your whole heart and  ¹with your whole soul and  ¹with your whole strength and  ¹with your whole mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

And He said to him, You have answered correctly; do this, and you shall have life.

But he, wanting to  ¹justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor?

Jesus, taking up the question, said, A  ¹certain man was going  ²down from  ³Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among  ⁴robbers, who having both  ⁵stripped him and  ⁶beaten him, went away,  ⁷leaving him half dead.

And by coincidence a certain  ¹priest was going down on that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.

And likewise also a  ¹Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the opposite side.

But a certain  ¹Samaritan, who was journeying, came upon him; and when he saw him, he was moved with compassion;

And he came to him and  ¹bound up his wounds and poured oil and wine on them. And placing him on his own beast, he brought him to an inn and took care of him.

And on the next day he took out two  ¹denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, Take care of him; and whatever you spend in addition to this, when I return, I will repay you.

Which of these three, does it seem to you, has  ¹become a neighbor to him who fell into the hands of the robbers?

And he said,  ¹The one who showed mercy to him. And Jesus said to him, Go, and you do likewise.

Then the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the children of Israel,

And they spoke to them in Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, Jehovah commanded through Moses that we be given cities to dwell in with their pasture lands for our cattle.

So the children of Israel gave the Levites, according to the commandment of Jehovah, these cities with their pasture lands out of their inheritance:

And the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. And to the children of Aaron the priest who were of the Levites there went by lot thirteen cities out of the tribe of Judah and out of the tribe of the Simeonites and out of the tribe of Benjamin.

And to the rest of the children of Kohath there went by lot ten cities out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim and out of the tribe of Dan and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh.

And to the children of Gershon there went by lot thirteen cities out of the families of the tribe of Issachar and out of the tribe of Asher and out of the tribe of Naphtali and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

To the children of Merari according to their families there went twelve cities out of the tribe of Reuben and out of the tribe of Gad and out of the tribe of Zebulun.

So the children of Israel gave by lot to the Levites these cities with their pasture lands, as Jehovah had commanded through Moses.

And out of the tribe of the children of Judah and out of the tribe of the children of Simeon they gave these cities, which are here mentioned by name;

And they went to the children of Aaron, one of the families of the Kohathites, of the children of Levi; for the first lot was theirs.

And they gave them Kiriath-arba (Arba was the father of Anak), which is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, with its pasture lands around it.

But the fields of the city and its villages they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.

And to the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the manslayer; and Libnah with its pasture lands

And Jattir with its pasture lands and Eshtemoa with its pasture lands

And Holon with its pasture lands and Debir with its pasture lands

And Ain with its pasture lands and Juttah with its pasture lands and Beth-shemesh with its pasture lands: nine cities out of those two tribes.

And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its pasture lands, Geba with its pasture lands,

Anathoth with its pasture lands, and Almon with its pasture lands: four cities.

All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their pasture lands.

And as for the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites who remained of the children of Kohath, the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim were given.

And they gave them Shechem with its pasture lands in the hill country of Ephraim, the city of refuge for the manslayer; and Gezer with its pasture lands

And Kibzaim with its pasture lands and Beth-horon with its pasture lands: four cities.

And out of the tribe of Dan: Eltekeh with its pasture lands, Gibbethon with its pasture lands,

Aijalon with its pasture lands, Gath-rimmon with its pasture lands: four cities.

And out of the half-tribe of Manasseh: Taanach with its pasture lands and Gath-rimmon with its pasture lands: two cities.

All the cities for the families of the children of Kohath who remained were ten, with their pasture lands.

And to the children of Gershon, one of the families of the Levites, they gave, out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the manslayer; and Be-eshterah with its pasture lands: two cities.

And out of the tribe of Issachar: Kishion with its pasture lands, Daberath with its pasture lands,

Jarmuth with its pasture lands, En-gannim with its pasture lands: four cities.

And out of the tribe of Asher: Mishal with its pasture lands, Abdon with its pasture lands,

Helkath with its pasture lands, and Rehob with its pasture lands: four cities.

And out of the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the manslayer; and Hammoth-dor with its pasture lands and Kartan with its pasture lands: three cities.

All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities, with their pasture lands.

And to the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, they gave Jokneam with its pasture lands and Kartah with its pasture lands,

Dimnah with its pasture lands, Nahalal with its pasture lands: four cities.

 ¹And out of the tribe of Reuben: Bezer with its pasture lands and Jahaz with its pasture lands,

Kedemoth with its pasture lands and Mephaath with its pasture lands: four cities.

And out of the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the manslayer; and Mahanaim with its pasture lands,

Heshbon with its pasture lands, Jazer with its pasture lands: four cities in all.

These were all the cities for the children of Merari according to their families, which remained of the families of the Levites; and their lot was twelve cities.

All the cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the children of Israel were forty-eight cities with their pasture lands.

Each of these cities had its pasture lands around it; so it was with all these cities.

So Jehovah gave Israel all the land that He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and dwelt in it.

And Jehovah gave them rest all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And no one among all their enemies could stand before them; Jehovah delivered all their enemies into their hand.

Not a word failed of all the good things that Jehovah had spoken to the house of Israel; all came to pass.

Then Joshua called the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

And he said to them, You have kept all that Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded you, and you have listened to my voice in all that I have commanded you.

You have not forsaken your brothers these many days unto this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of Jehovah your God.

And now Jehovah your God has given your brothers rest as He promised them. And now  ¹turn and go to your tents, to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of Jehovah gave you across the Jordan.

However be very careful to perform the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded you, to love Jehovah your God and to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and to cling to Him and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

And Joshua blessed them and sent them away; and they went to their tents.

Now to the one half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given an inheritance in Bashan, and to the other half of it Joshua gave an inheritance with their brothers across the Jordan on the west. Furthermore, when Joshua sent them away to their tents and blessed them,

He spoke to them, saying, Return with many riches to your tents and with very many cattle, with silver and with gold and with bronze and with iron and with very much clothing; divide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers.

So the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh went; and they departed from among the children of Israel out of Shiloh, which was in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession, which they had taken possession of according to the commandment of Jehovah through Moses.

And when they came into the region of the Jordan that is in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an  ¹altar there at the Jordan, an altar great in appearance.

And the children of Israel heard the report, which said, Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar out in front of the land of Canaan, in the region of the Jordan, on the side of the children of Israel.

And when the children of Israel heard this, all the assembly of the children of Israel gathered together at Shiloh to go up in battle against them.

And the children of Israel sent Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest to the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead,

And with him ten leaders, one leader each to a fathers' house of all the tribes of Israel; and they were each the head of their fathers' houses among the thousands of Israel.

And they went to the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead and spoke to them, saying,

Thus says all the assembly of Jehovah, What is this trespass that you have committed against the God of Israel in turning this day from following after Jehovah by building yourselves an altar to rebel against Jehovah this day?

Was the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves unto this day, though there was a plague upon the assembly of Jehovah,

That you have turned this day from following after Jehovah? And now, if you rebel against Jehovah this day, tomorrow He will be angry with the whole assembly of Israel.

But if the land of your possession is unclean, cross over into the land of the possession of Jehovah, where Jehovah's tabernacle dwells, and take a possession in the midst of us. But do not rebel against Jehovah, nor rebel against us, by building yourselves an altar besides the altar of Jehovah our God.

Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the matter of the devoted thing? But there was wrath upon the whole assembly of Israel, and that one man did not perish alone for his iniquity.

Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered and said to the heads of the thousands of Israel,

The Mighty One, God Jehovah; the Mighty One, God Jehovah; He knows, and may Israel itself know, whether it was in rebellion, or whether it was in trespass against Jehovah — may You not save us today —

That we built an altar for ourselves to turn away from following after Jehovah; or if we did so to offer burnt offerings and meal offerings upon it or to make sacrifices of peace offerings upon it, may Jehovah Himself require it.

But truly we have done this for a reason and out of a concern that in the future your children might speak to our children, saying, What have you to do with Jehovah the God of Israel?

For Jehovah has made the Jordan a border between us and you, O children of Reuben and children of Gad. You have no portion in Jehovah. Thus your children would cause our children to cease fearing Jehovah.

Therefore we said, Let us now take action to build the altar, though not for burnt offering or for sacrifice;

But it will be a witness between us and between you, and between our generations after us, that we may do the service of Jehovah before Him with our burnt offerings and our sacrifices and our peace offerings, and that your children may not say in the future to our children, You have no portion in Jehovah.

And we said, When they say this to us and to our generations in the future, we will say, Look at the copy of the altar of Jehovah that our fathers made, though not for burnt offering or for sacrifice; but it is a witness between us and you.

Far be it from us that we would rebel against Jehovah and turn away today from following after Jehovah by building an altar for burnt offering, for meal offering, or for sacrifice, besides the altar of Jehovah our God, which is before His tabernacle!

And when Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the assembly and the heads of the thousands of Israel who were with him heard the words that the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh spoke, it seemed good in their sight.

And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh, Today we know that Jehovah is in the midst of us, because you have not committed this trespass against Jehovah. Now you have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of Jehovah.

So Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest and the leaders returned from the children of Reuben and the children of Gad, from the land of Gilead, to the land of Canaan, to the children of Israel; and they brought back word to them.

And the matter seemed good in the sight of the children of Israel; and the children of Israel blessed God and never spoke again of going up in battle against them to destroy the land in which the children of Reuben and the children of Gad dwelt.

And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad named the altar; for, they said, it is a witness between us that Jehovah is God.