20 Did not Achan son of Zerah commit a trespass in the things under the ban, and wrath fall on all the congregation of Israel? And that man did not perish alone in his iniquity.’ ”
21 Then the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered and said to the heads of the Israelite clans,
22 “The Lord God of gods, the Lord God of gods, He knows, and may Israel know—if we have acted in rebellion or disloyalty against the Lord, do not spare us today.
23 If we have built an altar to turn away from following the Lord, to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings or make peace offerings upon it, may the Lord Himself demand an account.
24 “We did this deed because we were worried that in the future your descendants might say, ‘What have you to do with the Lord God of Israel?
25 The Lord made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, the descendants of Reuben and Gad. You have no share in the Lord!’ In this way your descendants might make our descendants to stop worshipping the Lord.
26 “So we said to each other, ‘Let us build this altar, not for burnt offering or sacrifice,