Now the people of Reuben and the people of Gad had a very great
number of livestock. And they saw the land of Jazer and the land of
Gilead, and behold, the place was a place for livestock. So the
people of Gad and the people of Reuben came and said to Moses and
to Eleazar the priest and to the chiefs of the congregation,
“Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and
Beon, the land that the LORD struck down before the congregation of
Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.”
And they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land
be given to your servants for a possession. Do not take us across
the Jordan.”
But Moses said to the people of Gad and to the people of Reuben,
“Shall your brothers go to the war while you sit here? Why will you
discourage the heart of the people of Israel from going over into
the land that the LORD has given them? Your fathers did this, when
I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land. For when they went
up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the
heart of the people of Israel from going into the land that the
LORD had given them. And the LORD's anger was kindled on that day,
and he swore, saying, ‘Surely none of the men who came up out of
Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land that I
swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have
not wholly followed me, none except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the
Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed
the LORD.’ And the LORD's anger was kindled against Israel, and he
made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the
generation that had done evil in the sight of the LORD was gone.
And behold, you have risen in your fathers' place, a brood of
sinful men, to increase still more the fierce anger of the LORD
against Israel! For if you turn away from following him, he will
again abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all this
people.”
Then they came near to him and said, “We will build sheepfolds
here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones, but we will
take up arms, ready to go before the people of Israel, until we
have brought them to their place. And our little ones shall live in
the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. We
will not return to our homes until each of the people of Israel has
gained his inheritance. For we will not inherit with them on the
other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has
come to us on this side of the Jordan to the east.” So Moses said
to them, “If you will do this, if you will take up arms to go
before the LORD for the war, and every armed man of you will pass
over the Jordan before the LORD, until he has driven out his
enemies from before him and the land is subdued before the LORD;
then after that you shall return and be free of obligation to the
LORD and to Israel, and this land shall be your possession before
the LORD. But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned
against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out. Build
cities for your little ones and folds for your sheep, and do what
you have promised.” And the people of Gad and the people of Reuben
said to Moses, “Your servants will do as my lord commands. Our
little ones, our wives, our livestock, and all our cattle shall
remain there in the cities of Gilead, but your servants will pass
over, every man who is armed for war, before the LORD to battle, as
my lord orders.”
So Moses gave command concerning them to Eleazar the priest and
to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of the fathers' houses of
the tribes of the people of Israel. And Moses said to them, “If the
people of Gad and the people of Reuben, every man who is armed to
battle before the LORD, will pass with you over the Jordan and the
land shall be subdued before you, then you shall give them the land
of Gilead for a possession. However, if they will not pass over
with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land
of Canaan.” And the people of Gad and the people of Reuben
answered, “What the LORD has said to your servants, we will do. We
will pass over armed before the LORD into the land of Canaan, and
the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us beyond the
Jordan.”
And Moses gave to them, to the people of Gad and to the people of
Reuben and to the half-tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the
kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of
Bashan, the land and its cities with their territories, the cities
of the land throughout the country. And the people of Gad built
Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, Beth-nimrah
and Beth-haran, fortified cities, and folds for sheep. And the
people of Reuben built Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim, Nebo, and
Baal-meon (their names were changed), and Sibmah. And they gave
other names to the cities that they built. And the sons of Machir
the son of Manasseh went to Gilead and captured it, and
dispossessed the Amorites who were in it. And Moses gave Gilead to
Machir the son of Manasseh, and he settled in it. And Jair the son
of Manasseh went and captured their villages, and called them
Havvoth-jair. And Nobah went and captured Kenath and its villages,
and called it Nobah, after his own name.
