17Is the wicked deede of Peor to litle for vs, wherof we are not yet cleansed vnto this day, and there was a plague in the congregation of the Lorde?
18Ye also are turned away this day from the Lorde: And seyng ye rebell to daye against the Lorde, it wyll come to passe that to morowe he shalbe wroth with all the congregation of Israel.
19Notwithstandyng, yf ye thynke that the lande of your possession is vncleane, then come ouer vnto the lande of the possession of the Lorde, wherein the Lordes tabernacle dwelleth, and take possession among vs: But rebell not against the Lorde, nor rebell against vs, to buylde you any other aulter, saue the aulter of the Lorde our God.
20Dyd not Achan the sonne of Zareth trespasse greeuouslie in the accursed thyng, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? and this man alone perished not in his wickednes.
21Then the chyldren of Ruben, and the chyldren of Gad, and the halfe tribe of Manasses aunswered, and sayde vnto the heades ouer the thousandes of Israel:
22The Lorde God of gods, the Lorde God of gods knoweth, and also Israel shall knowe, yf it be to rebell or to transgresse against the Lorde, then thou Lorde saue vs not this day.
23Or els yf we haue buylt vs an aulter to turne from folowyng the Lorde, or to offer theron burnt offeryng or meate offeryng, or to offer peace offerynges theron, let ye Lord him selfe require it.
24And yf we haue not rather done it for feare of this thyng, saying, In tyme to come your chyldren myght say vnto ours: What haue you to do with the Lorde God of Israel?
25The Lorde hath made Iordane a border betweene vs and you ye children of Ruben and of Gad, ye haue no part therfore in the Lorde: and so shall your children make our children ceasse from fearyng the Lorde.
26Therfore we saide, We wyll make vs an aulter, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice:
27But for a witnesse betweene vs and you, and our generations after vs, that we should serue the Lorde with our offerynges, sacrifices, & peace offerynges before him: & that your children shoulde not say to ours in tyme to come, Ye haue no part in the Lorde.
28Therfore sayde we, that yf they should so say to vs or to our generations in tyme to come: that we wolde say again, Behold the fassion of the aulter of the Lord which our fathers made, neither for burnt offringes nor sacrifices, but for a witnesse betweene vs and you.
29God forbyd that we should rebell agaynst the Lord, & turne this day from after hym, and buylde any other aulter for burnt offringes, oblations, or sacrifices, saue the aulter of the Lorde our God that is before his tabernacle.