Numbers
Chapter 32
1 The Reubenites and Gadites had many animals. When they saw the land of Jazer and Gilead, they noticed it was good for animals.
2 The descendants of Gad and Reuben came and spoke to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the people, saying,
3 Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Shebam, Nebo, and Beon.
4 Even the land that God struck down before Israel’s people is good for livestock, and your servants have livestock.
5 So they said, if we have gained your favor, let this land be given to your servants as property, and do not take us across the Jordan.
6 Moses said to Gad’s and Reuben’s descendants, “Will your brothers go to fight while you stay here?”
7 Why are you making the Israelites not want to go to the land that God has given them?
8 Your ancestors did this when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land.
9 When they came to the Eshcol Valley and saw the land, they made the Israelites’ hearts lose courage so they would not enter the land God had given them.
10 God became very angry then, and he promised, saying,
11 No one who came from Egypt, age twenty or older, will see the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they did not fully follow me.
12 Protect Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua son of Nun, because they have completely followed God.
13 God became angry with Israel and made them wander in the desert for forty years, until all the people who had done wrong in God’s eyes had died.
14 Look, you have taken your fathers’ place as a group of sinful people, making God even angrier with Israel.
15 If you turn away from God, he will leave you in the desert, and you will ruin everyone.
16 They came to him and said, “We will make places for our sheep and towns for our children here.”
17 We will go armed ahead of the Israelites until they reach their land. Our families will live in protected cities because of the land’s people.
18 We won’t go back to our homes until each Israelite has received their share of the land.
19 We will not own land with them across the Jordan, nor beyond it, because our inheritance has been given to us on this side of the Jordan to the east.
20 And Moses said to them, “If you do this, if you go ready for battle before God,
21 All of you, ready for battle, will cross the Jordan River before God until he has forced his enemies out of his way.
22 When the land is conquered for God, then you can go back home. You will be innocent before God and before Israel, and this land will be yours under God’s watch.
23 If you don’t do this, you have sinned against God, and your sin will become known.
24 Make towns for your children and pens for your sheep; and do what you said you would.
25 The children of Gad and Reuben said to Moses, “Your servants will do what you command.”
26 Our children, our wives, our herds, and all our animals will stay in the cities of Gilead.
27 Your servants will cross over, each man ready for war, before God to fight, as my lord says.
28 Moses told Priest Eleazar, Joshua, Nun’s son, and the main leaders of Israel’s tribes about them.
29 Moses told them, “If the Gadites and the Reubenites cross the Jordan River with you, ready to fight in front of God, and the land is conquered, then you should give them the land of Gilead to own.”
30 If they won’t cross over fully armed to help you, they must settle among you in Canaan.
31 The children of Gad and the children of Reuben replied, “We will do as God has told your servants.”
32 We will go across armed in front of God to the land of Canaan, so the land we inherit on this side of the Jordan River will belong to us.
33 Moses gave the Gadites, the Reubenites, and half of the Manasseh tribe the lands and cities, including the territories of the kingdoms of Sihon and Og.
34 The Gad people built Dibon, Ataroth, and Aroer.
35 And Atroth, Shophan, Jaazer, and Jogbehah,
36 Bethnimrah and Bethharan were protected cities with sheep pens.
37 Reuben’s descendants built Heshbon, Elealeh, and Kirjathaim.
38 They renamed Nebo, Baalmeon, and Shibmah, and gave new names to the cities they built.
39 Machir’s descendants, who were Manasseh’s children, went to Gilead, captured it, and forced out the Amorites living there.
40 Moses gave Gilead to Machir, Manasseh’s son, and he lived there.
41 Jair, who was from Manasseh’s family, captured the small towns and named them Havothjair.
42 Nobah went and captured Kenath and its surrounding villages, and renamed it Nobah, like his own name.