Numbers 32:1–42

¹Now the sons of Reu′ben and the sons of Gad had come to have numerous livestock, very many, in fact. And they began to see the land of Ja′zer and the land of Gil′e‧ad, and, look! the place was a place for livestock.²Hence the sons of Gad and the sons of Reu′ben came and said this to Moses and El‧e‧a′zar the priest and to the chieftains of the assembly:³“At′a‧roth and Di′bon and Ja′zer and Nim′rah and Hesh′bon and E‧le‧a′leh and Se′bam and Ne′bo and Be′on,⁴the land that Jehovah defeated before the assembly of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.”⁵And they went on to say: “If we have found favor in your eyes, let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan.”

⁶Then Moses said to the sons of Gad and the sons of Reu′ben: “Are ​YOUR​ brothers to go to war while ​YOU​ yourselves keep dwelling here?⁷And why should ​YOU​ dishearten the sons of Israel from crossing into the land that Jehovah will certainly give them?⁸That is the way ​YOUR​ fathers did when I sent them from Ka′desh‐bar′ne‧a to see the land.⁹When they went up to the torrent valley of Esh′col and saw the land, then they disheartened the sons of Israel, so as not to go into the land that Jehovah was certain to give them.¹⁰Consequently Jehovah’s anger blazed on that day so that he swore, saying,¹¹‘The men who came up out of Egypt from twenty years old upward will not see the soil of which I have sworn to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, because they have not followed me wholly,¹²except Ca′leb the son of Je‧phun′neh the Ken′iz‧zite and Joshua the son of Nun, because they have followed Jehovah wholly.’¹³So Jehovah’s anger blazed against Israel and he made them wander about in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that was doing evil in the eyes of Jehovah came to their end.¹⁴And here ​YOU​ have risen in the place of ​YOUR​ fathers as the brood of sinful men in order to add further to the burning anger of Jehovah against Israel.¹⁵In case ​YOU​ should turn back from following him, he also would certainly once again let them stay longer in the wilderness, and ​YOU​ would have acted ruinously toward all this people.”

¹⁶Later they approached him and said: “Let us build here stone flock pens for our livestock and cities for our little ones.¹⁷But we ourselves shall go equipped in battle formation before the sons of Israel until whenever we have brought them to their place, while our little ones must dwell in the cities with fortifications away from the face of the inhabitants of the land.¹⁸We shall not return to our houses until the sons of Israel have provided themselves with landed property, each with his own inheritance.¹⁹For we shall not get an inheritance with them from the side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us from the side of the Jordan toward the sunrising.”

²⁰At this Moses said to them: “If ​YOU​ will do this thing, if ​YOU​ will equip yourselves before Jehovah for the war,²¹and every equipped one of ​YOURS​ will actually pass over the Jordan before Jehovah, until he drives away his enemies from before him,²²and the land is actually subdued before Jehovah, and afterward ​YOU​ return, ​YOU​ also will indeed prove yourselves free from guilt against Jehovah and against Israel; and this land must become ​YOURS​ as a possession before Jehovah.²³But if ​YOU​ will not do this way, ​YOU​ will also certainly sin against Jehovah. In that case know that ​YOUR​ sin will catch up with ​YOU.²⁴Build for yourselves cities for ​YOUR​ little ones and stone pens for ​YOUR​ flocks, and what has gone forth from ​YOUR​ mouth ​YOU​ should do.”

²⁵Then the sons of Gad and the sons of Reu′ben said this to Moses: “Your servants will do just as my lord is commanding.²⁶Our little ones, our wives, our livestock and all our domestic animals will stay there in the cities of Gil′e‧ad,²⁷but your servants will pass over, everyone equipped for the army, before Jehovah for the war, just as my lord is speaking.”

²⁸Accordingly Moses gave a command respecting them to El‧e‧a′zar the priest and to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the sons of Israel.²⁹So Moses said to them: “If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reu′ben pass with ​YOU​ over the Jordan, everyone equipped for the war, before Jehovah, and the land is actually subdued before ​YOU, ​YOU​ must then give them the land of Gil′e‧ad as a possession.³⁰But if they do not pass over equipped with ​YOU, they must then be settled in ​YOUR​ midst in the land of Ca′naan.”

³¹To this the sons of Gad and the sons of Reu′ben answered, saying: “What Jehovah has spoken to your servants is the way we shall do.³²We ourselves will pass over equipped before Jehovah to the land of Ca′naan, and the possession of our inheritance will be with us on this side of the Jordan.”³³At this Moses gave to them, that is, to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reu′ben and to half the tribe of Ma‧nas′seh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Si′hon the king of the Am′or‧ites and the kingdom of Og the king of Ba′shan, the land belonging to its cities in the territories, and the cities of the land round about.

³⁴And the sons of Gad proceeded to build Di′bon and At′a‧roth and A‧ro′er,³⁵and At′roth‐sho′phan and Ja′zer and Jog′be‧hah,³⁶and Beth‐nim′rah and Beth‐ha′ran, cities with fortifications, and stone flock pens.³⁷And the sons of Reu′ben built Hesh′bon and E‧le‧a′leh and Kir‧i‧a‧tha′im,³⁸and Ne′bo and Ba′al‐me′on—their names being changed—and Sib′mah; and they began to call by their own names the names of the cities that they built.

³⁹And the sons of Ma′chir the son of Ma‧nas′seh proceeded to march to Gil′e‧ad and to capture it and to drive away the Am′or‧ites who were in it.⁴⁰So Moses gave Gil′e‧ad to Ma′chir the son of Ma‧nas′seh, and he took up dwelling in it.⁴¹And Ja′ir the son of Ma‧nas′seh marched and went capturing their tent villages, and he began to call them Hav′voth‐ja′ir.⁴²And No′bah marched and went capturing Ke′nath and its dependent towns; and he began to call it No′bah by his own name.