And in the mean time they sent to them into the land of Galaad, Phinees the son of Eleazar the priest,

and the sons of Israel send unto the sons of Reuben, and unto the sons of Gad, and unto the half of the tribe of Manasseh, unto the land of Gilead, Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest,

And the children of Israel sent Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, to the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead,

And in the interim, they sent to them, in the land of Gilead, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the priest,

Miserunt autem filii Israel ad filios Ruben, et ad filios Gad, et ad dimidiam tribum Manasse, ad terram Gilead, Phinees filium Eleazar sacerdotis.

And the children of Israel,.... In the land of Canaan:
sent unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, unto the land of Gilead; they were possessed of, and had now returned unto and dwelt in; hither they sent an embassy to them, to inquire into the truth of what they had heard, and the reason of it, before they went to war with them, or proclaimed it, or took any further steps towards it; and which they were obliged to do by the above law, when there was any suspicion of idolatry, and any good ground and reason for it, Deuteronomy 13:14; and at the head of this deputation was
Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest; a man zealous for the Lord of hosts, and his glory, of which there is an instance in Numbers 25:7; and so a fit person to be employed in this affair, who would be faithful, bold, and zealous, as well as capable of giving advice and counsel to both parties, if needful.

The congregation therefore sent Phinehas, the son of the high priest and his presumptive successor in this office, with ten princes, one from each tribe (not the tribe-princes, but a head of the fathers' houses of the families of Israel), to Gilead, to the two tribes and a half, to call them to account for building the altar.