16 "We're speaking for the Lord's whole community. How could you disobey the God of Israel like this? How could you turn away from the Lord? How could you disobey him by building an altar for yourselves?
17 "Don't you remember how we sinned at Peor? The Lord struck us with a plague because of what we did. Up to this very day we're still suffering because of that sin.
18 Are you turning away from the Lord now? "Suppose you disobey the Lord today. If you do, he'll be angry with the whole community of Israel tomorrow.
19 "If your own land isn't 'clean,' come over to the Lord's land. It's where his holy tent stands. Share our land with us. But don't disobey the Lord. Don't turn against us by building an altar for yourselves. Don't build any altar other than the altar of the Lord our God.
20 "Remember Achan, the son of Zerah. Achan wasn't faithful to the Lord. He took the things that had been set apart to the Lord in a special way to be destroyed. Didn't the Lord's anger come on the whole community of Israel? And Achan wasn't the only one who died because of his sin."
21 Then the tribes of Reuben and Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh replied. They answered the leaders of the family groups of Israel.
22 They said, "The Mighty One, God, the Lord! The Mighty One, God, the Lord! He knows! And we want Israel to know! Have we opposed the Lord? Have we refused to obey him? If we have, don't spare us today.