14. And now here you are, offspring of sinful stock, rising up in your ancestors’ place to add still more to the Lord’s blazing anger against the Israelites.
15. If you turn away from following him, he will again abandon them in the wilderness, and you will bring about the ruin of this entire people.”
16. But they approached him and said: “We will only build sheepfolds here for our flocks and towns for our families;
17. but we ourselves will march as troops in the vanguard before the Israelites, until we have led them to their destination. Meanwhile our families will remain in the fortified towns because of the land’s inhabitants.
18. We will not return to our homes until all the Israelites have taken possession of their heritage.