Numbers 32

The Reubenites and Gadites had abundant livestock, an exceedingly great number. They saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and the place was suitable for livestock. The Gadites and Reubenites came and spoke to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the leaders of the congregation, saying, “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon, the land that the LORD struck before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.” They said, “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.” Moses said to the Gadites and Reubenites, “Shall your brothers go to war while you stay here? Why do you discourage the heart of the Israelites from crossing into the land that the LORD has given them? This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land. They went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, and they discouraged the heart of the Israelites so that they would not enter the land that the LORD had given them. The LORD’s anger burned that day, and he swore, saying, ‘Surely the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall not see the land I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for they have not followed me fully, except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they have followed the LORD fully.’ The LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation that had done evil in the LORD’s eyes had come to an end. And look, you have risen in your fathers’ place, offspring of sinful men, to add still more to the LORD’s fierce anger against Israel. If you turn away from following him, he will again leave them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all this people.” They came near to him and said, “We will build pens here for our livestock and cities for our little ones. But we ourselves will arm ourselves and go quickly before the Israelites until we have brought them to their place. Our little ones will stay in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return to our houses until each of the Israelites has received his inheritance. For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan or beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan, toward the east.” Moses said to them, “If you do this, if you arm yourselves for war before the LORD, and every armed man of yours crosses the Jordan before the LORD until he drives out his enemies from before him, and the land is subdued before the LORD, then afterward you may return. You shall be free of guilt before the LORD and before Israel, and this land shall be your possession before the LORD. But if you do not do so, look, you will have sinned against the LORD. And be sure your sin will find you out. Build cities for your little ones and pens for your flocks, and do what has come from your mouth.” The Gadites and Reubenites said to Moses, “Your servants will do as my lord commands. Our little ones, our wives, our livestock, and all our animals will remain there in the cities of Gilead. But your servants, every man armed for war, will cross over before the LORD to battle, as my lord says.” Moses gave instructions concerning them to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua son of Nun, and to the heads of the ancestral households of the tribes of the Israelites. Moses said to them, “If the Gadites and Reubenites cross the Jordan with you, every man armed for war before the LORD, and the land is subdued before you, you shall give them the land of Gilead as a possession. But if they do not cross over armed with you, they shall have their possession among you in the land of Canaan.” The Gadites and Reubenites answered, “What the LORD has said to your servants, that we will do. We will cross over armed before the LORD into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance on this side of the Jordan shall remain with us.” Moses gave to them, to the Gadites, to the Reubenites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land with its cities and their territories, the cities of the surrounding country. The Gadites built Dibon, Ataroth, and Aroer, Atroth-shophan, Jazer, and Jogbehah, Beth-nimrah and Beth-haran, fortified cities, and pens for the flocks. The Reubenites built Heshbon, Elealeh, and Kiriathaim, Nebo and Baal-meon, whose names were changed, and Sibmah. They gave names to the cities they built. The sons of Machir son of Manasseh went to Gilead and captured it, and he drove out the Amorites who were in it. Moses gave Gilead to Machir son of Manasseh, and he lived in it. Jair son of Manasseh went and captured their villages, and called them Havvoth-jair. Nobah went and captured Kenath and its villages, and called it Nobah after his own name.

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