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Psalm 106

 ¹ Praise the LORD. ^[a]
       Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
       his love endures forever.

 ² Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the LORD
       or fully declare his praise?

 ³ Blessed are they who maintain justice,
       who constantly do what is right.

 ⁴ Remember me, O LORD, when you show favor to your people,
       come to my aid when you save them,

 ⁵ that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones,
       that I may share in the joy of your nation
       and join your inheritance in giving praise.

 ⁶ We have sinned, even as our fathers did;
       we have done wrong and acted wickedly.

 ⁷ When our fathers were in Egypt,
       they gave no thought to your miracles;
       they did not remember your many kindnesses,
       and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea. ^[b]

 ⁸ Yet he saved them for his name's sake,
       to make his mighty power known.

 ⁹ He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up;
       he led them through the depths as through a desert.

 ¹⁰ He saved them from the hand of the foe;
       from the hand of the enemy he redeemed them.

 ¹¹ The waters covered their adversaries;
       not one of them survived.

 ¹² Then they believed his promises
       and sang his praise.

 ¹³ But they soon forgot what he had done
       and did not wait for his counsel.

 ¹⁴ In the desert they gave in to their craving;
       in the wasteland they put God to the test.

 ¹⁵ So he gave them what they asked for,
       but sent a wasting disease upon them.

 ¹⁶ In the camp they grew envious of Moses
       and of Aaron, who was consecrated to the LORD.

 ¹⁷ The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan;
       it buried the company of Abiram.

 ¹⁸ Fire blazed among their followers;
       a flame consumed the wicked.

 ¹⁹ At Horeb they made a calf
       and worshiped an idol cast from metal.

 ²⁰ They exchanged their Glory
       for an image of a bull, which eats grass.

 ²¹ They forgot the God who saved them,
       who had done great things in Egypt,

 ²² miracles in the land of Ham
       and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.

 ²³ So he said he would destroy them—
       had not Moses, his chosen one,
       stood in the breach before him
       to keep his wrath from destroying them.

 ²⁴ Then they despised the pleasant land;
       they did not believe his promise.

 ²⁵ They grumbled in their tents
       and did not obey the LORD.

 ²⁶ So he swore to them with uplifted hand
       that he would make them fall in the desert,

 ²⁷ make their descendants fall among the nations
       and scatter them throughout the lands.

 ²⁸ They yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor
       and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods;

 ²⁹ they provoked the LORD to anger by their wicked deeds,
       and a plague broke out among them.

 ³⁰ But Phinehas stood up and intervened,
       and the plague was checked.

 ³¹ This was credited to him as righteousness
       for endless generations to come.

 ³² By the waters of Meribah they angered the LORD,
       and trouble came to Moses because of them;

 ³³ for they rebelled against the Spirit of God,
       and rash words came from Moses' lips. ^[c]

 ³⁴ They did not destroy the peoples
       as the LORD had commanded them,

 ³⁵ but they mingled with the nations
       and adopted their customs.

 ³⁶ They worshiped their idols,
       which became a snare to them.

 ³⁷ They sacrificed their sons
       and their daughters to demons.

 ³⁸ They shed innocent blood,
       the blood of their sons and daughters,
       whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
       and the land was desecrated by their blood.

 ³⁹ They defiled themselves by what they did;
       by their deeds they prostituted themselves.

 ⁴⁰ Therefore the LORD was angry with his people
       and abhorred his inheritance.

 ⁴¹ He handed them over to the nations,
       and their foes ruled over them.

 ⁴² Their enemies oppressed them
       and subjected them to their power.

 ⁴³ Many times he delivered them,
       but they were bent on rebellion
       and they wasted away in their sin.

 ⁴⁴ But he took note of their distress
       when he heard their cry;

 ⁴⁵ for their sake he remembered his covenant
       and out of his great love he relented.

 ⁴⁶ He caused them to be pitied
       by all who held them captive.

 ⁴⁷ Save us, O LORD our God,
       and gather us from the nations,
       that we may give thanks to your holy name
       and glory in your praise.

 ⁴⁸ Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel,
       from everlasting to everlasting.
       Let all the people say, "Amen!"
       Praise the LORD.

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 ¹⁰ When they came to Geliloth near the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an imposing altar there by the Jordan. ¹¹ And when the Israelites heard that they had built the altar on the border of Canaan at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side, ¹² the whole assembly of Israel gathered at Shiloh to go to war against them.

 ¹³ So the Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, to the land of Gilead—to Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh. ¹⁴ With him they sent ten of the chief men, one for each of the tribes of Israel, each the head of a family division among the Israelite clans.

 ¹⁵ When they went to Gilead—to Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh—they said to them: ¹⁶ "The whole assembly of the LORD says: 'How could you break faith with the God of Israel like this? How could you turn away from the LORD and build yourselves an altar in rebellion against him now? ¹⁷ Was not the sin of Peor enough for us? Up to this very day we have not cleansed ourselves from that sin, even though a plague fell on the community of the LORD! ¹⁸ And are you now turning away from the LORD ?
      " 'If you rebel against the LORD today, tomorrow he will be angry with the whole community of Israel. ¹⁹ If the land you possess is defiled, come over to the LORD's land, where the LORD's tabernacle stands, and share the land with us. But do not rebel against the LORD or against us by building an altar for yourselves, other than the altar of the LORD our God. ²⁰ When Achan son of Zerah acted unfaithfully regarding the devoted things, ^[a] did not wrath come upon the whole community of Israel? He was not the only one who died for his sin.' "

 ²¹ Then Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh replied to the heads of the clans of Israel: ²² "The Mighty One, God, the LORD! The Mighty One, God, the LORD! He knows! And let Israel know! If this has been in rebellion or disobedience to the LORD, do not spare us this day. ²³ If we have built our own altar to turn away from the LORD and to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, or to sacrifice fellowship offerings ^[b] on it, may the LORD himself call us to account.

 ²⁴ "No! We did it for fear that some day your descendants might say to ours, 'What do you have to do with the LORD, the God of Israel? ²⁵ The LORD has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you—you Reubenites and Gadites! You have no share in the LORD.' So your descendants might cause ours to stop fearing the LORD.

 ²⁶ "That is why we said, 'Let us get ready and build an altar—but not for burnt offerings or sacrifices.' ²⁷ On the contrary, it is to be a witness between us and you and the generations that follow, that we will worship the LORD at his sanctuary with our burnt offerings, sacrifices and fellowship offerings. Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to ours, 'You have no share in the LORD.'

 ²⁸ "And we said, 'If they ever say this to us, or to our descendants, we will answer: Look at the replica of the LORD's altar, which our fathers built, not for burnt offerings and sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you.'

 ²⁹ "Far be it from us to rebel against the LORD and turn away from him today by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings and sacrifices, other than the altar of the LORD our God that stands before his tabernacle."

 ³⁰ When Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the community—the heads of the clans of the Israelites—heard what Reuben, Gad and Manasseh had to say, they were pleased. ³¹ And Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, said to Reuben, Gad and Manasseh, "Today we know that the LORD is with us, because you have not acted unfaithfully toward the LORD in this matter. Now you have rescued the Israelites from the LORD's hand."

 ³² Then Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, and the leaders returned to Canaan from their meeting with the Reubenites and Gadites in Gilead and reported to the Israelites. ³³ They were glad to hear the report and praised God. And they talked no more about going to war against them to devastate the country where the Reubenites and the Gadites lived.

 ³⁴ And the Reubenites and the Gadites gave the altar this name: A Witness Between Us that the LORD is God.