Numbers
32 Now the sons of Reuʹben+ and the sons of Gad+ had come to have numerous livestock, very many, in fact. And they began to see the land of Jaʹzer+ and the land of Gilʹe·ad, and, look! the place was a place for livestock. 2 Hence the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuʹben came and said this to Moses and El·e·aʹzar the priest and to the chieftains of the assembly: 3 “Atʹa·roth+ and Diʹbon+ and Jaʹzer and Nimʹrah+ and Heshʹbon+ and E·le·aʹleh+ and Seʹbam and Neʹbo+ and Beʹon,+ 4 the land that Jehovah defeated+ before the assembly of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.”+ 5 And 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.”+
6 Then Moses said to the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuʹben: “Are YOUR brothers to go to war while YOU yourselves keep dwelling here?+ 7 And why should YOU dishearten the sons of Israel from crossing into the land that Jehovah will certainly give them? 8 That is the way YOUR fathers did+ when I sent them from Kaʹdesh-barʹne·a+ to see the land. 9 When they went up to the torrent valley of Eshʹcol+ 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.+ 10 Consequently 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, 12 except Caʹleb+ the son of Je·phunʹneh the Kenʹiz·zite and Joshua+ the son of Nun, because they have followed Jehovah wholly.’ 13 So 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.+ 14 And 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. 15 In 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.”+
16 Later they approached him and said: “Let us build here stone flock pens for our livestock and cities for our little ones. 17 But 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. 18 We shall not return to our houses until the sons of Israel have provided themselves with landed property, each with his own inheritance.+ 19 For 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.”+
20 At this Moses said to them: “If YOU will do this thing, if YOU will equip yourselves before Jehovah for the war,+ 21 and every equipped one of YOURS will actually pass over the Jordan before Jehovah, until he drives away his enemies from before him,+ 22 and 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.+ 23 But 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.+ 24 Build for yourselves cities for YOUR little ones and stone pens for YOUR flocks, and what has gone forth from YOUR mouth YOU should do.”+
25 Then the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuʹben said this to Moses: “Your servants will do just as my lord is commanding.+ 26 Our little ones, our wives, our livestock and all our domestic animals will stay there in the cities of Gilʹe·ad,+ 27 but your servants will pass over, everyone equipped for the army,+ before Jehovah for the war, just as my lord is speaking.”
28 Accordingly Moses gave a command respecting them to El·e·aʹzar the priest and to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the sons of Israel. 29 So Moses said to them: “If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuʹben 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 Gilʹe·ad as a possession.+ 30 But if they do not pass over equipped with YOU,* they must then be settled in YOUR midst in the land of Caʹnaan.”+
31 To this the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuʹben answered, saying: “What Jehovah has spoken to your servants is the way we shall do.+ 32 We ourselves will pass over equipped before Jehovah to the land of Caʹnaan,+ and the possession of our inheritance will be with us* on this side of the Jordan.”+ 33 At this Moses gave to them, that is, to the sons of Gad+ and to the sons of Reuʹben+ and to half the tribe of Ma·nasʹseh+ the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Siʹhon+ the king of the Amʹor·ites and the kingdom of Og+ the king of Baʹshan, the land belonging to its cities in the territories, and the cities of the land round about.*
34 And the sons of Gad proceeded to build Diʹbon+ and Atʹa·roth+ and A·roʹer,+ 35 and Atʹroth-shoʹphan and Jaʹzer+ and Jogʹbe·hah,+ 36 and Beth-nimʹrah+ and Beth-haʹran,+ cities with fortifications,+ and stone flock pens.+ 37 And the sons of Reuʹben built Heshʹbon+ and E·le·aʹleh+ and Kir·i·a·thaʹim,+ 38 and Neʹbo+ and Baʹal-meʹon+—their names being changed—and Sibʹmah; and they began to call by their own names* the names of the cities that they built.
39 And the sons of Maʹchir+ the son of Ma·nasʹseh proceeded to march to Gilʹe·ad and to capture it and to drive away the Amʹor·ites who were in it. 40 So Moses gave Gilʹe·ad to Maʹchir the son of Ma·nasʹseh, and he took up dwelling in it.+ 41 And Jaʹir the son of Ma·nasʹseh marched and went capturing their tent villages, and he began to call them Havʹvoth-jaʹir.+ 42 And Noʹbah marched and went capturing Keʹnath+ and its dependent towns;* and he began to call it Noʹbah by his own name.