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Numbers

Reuben, Gad, and Half-Manasseh

32
Chapter 32
1 The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had a very large number of livestock. They saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and it was a place suitable for livestock. 2 And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben came and said to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the princes of the congregation, saying: 3 Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Shebam, Nebo, and Beon. 4 The land which the LORD struck before the Congregation of Israel—land of livestock it is, and for your servants livestock. 5 And they said, "If we have found favor in your eyes, let him give this land to your servants as a holding. Do not make us cross the Jordan." 6 And Moses said to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben, "Shall your brothers go to war while you sit here?" 7 And why will you deter the hearts of the sons of Israel from crossing over to the land that the LORD has given them? 8 In this way your fathers did when I sent you from the sanctuary at Rənēaʿ to see the land. 9 And they went up as far as the Wadi Eshcol, and they saw the land, and they discouraged the hearts of the sons of Israel so as not to enter the land that the LORD had given them. 10 And the anger of the LORD burned that day, and he swore, saying: 11 If the men who came up from Egypt, from a son of twenty years and upward, see the land that I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they did not fulfill after me. 12 except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they have fully followed the LORD. 13 And the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he caused them to wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that did evil in the eyes of the LORD was finished. 14 And see, you have risen up in place of your fathers, an increase of sinful people, to add still more to the burning of the anger of the LORD against Israel. 15 for you turn away from following him, and he will still add to leaving him in the wilderness, and you will destroy all this people. 16 And they approached him and said, "We will build sheepfolds for our livestock here, and cities for our dependents." 17 And we will arm ourselves, hastening before the sons of Israel until we have brought them to their place, and our little ones will dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. 18 We will not return to our houses until the sons of Israel inherit, each man his inheritance. 19 For we will not inherit with them beyond the Jordan and onward, for our inheritance has come to us on the east side of the Jordan. 20 And Moses said to them, "If you do this thing, if you arm yourselves before the LORD for war..." 21 and every armed man shall cross over the Jordan before the LORD for you until he dispossesses his enemies from before him. 22 And the land is subdued before the LORD, and afterward you return and you are innocent before the LORD and before Israel, and this land becomes for you a holding before the LORD. 23 But if you do not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and know your sin, which will find you. 24 Build for yourselves cities for your little ones and enclosures for your flocks, and do what has come out of your mouth. 25 The sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben said to Moses, "Your servants will do as our lord commands." 26 Our dependents, our wives, our livestock, and all our cattle will remain in the cities of Gilead. 27 And your servants will cross over, every equipped man of the army, before the LORD to the war, just as my lord has spoken. 28 And Moses commanded Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the sons of Israel. 29 And Moses said to them, "If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben cross with you the Jordan, every armed man for battle before the LORD, and the land is subdued before you, then you shall give to them the land of Gilead for a possession." 30 And if they do not cross over armed with you and take hold in your inheritance in the land of Canaan. 31 The sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben answered, saying, "What the LORD spoke to his servants, we will do." 32 We will cross over as equipped ones before the LORD into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance will be with us beyond the Jordan. 33 And Moses gave to them—to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben and to half of the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph—the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorite and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land with its cities in the territorial boundaries of the cities of the land all around. 34 The sons of Gad built Dibon, Ataroth, and Aroer. 35 and Atroth-shophan and Jaazer and Jogbehah 36 and Beth-nimrah and Beth-haran, fortified cities and sheepfold enclosures. 37 And the sons of Reuben built Heshbon, Elealeh, and Kiriathaim. 38 and Nebo and Baal-meon—changed of name—and Sibmah; and they called by-names the names of the cities that they built. 39 And the sons of Machir, son of Manasseh, went to Gilead and captured it and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it. 40 And Moses gave Gilead to Machir son of Manasseh, and he dwelt in it. 41 Jair son of Manasseh went and captured their ḥawwôt and called them ḥawwôt Jair. 42 And Nobah went and captured Kenath and its daughters, and he called it Nobah after his name.