NAS - Numbers Chapters 32 to 33

32 Reuben and Gad Settle in Gilead

¹Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had an exceedingly large number of livestock. So when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, that it was indeed a place suitable for livestock, ²the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben came and spoke to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the congregation, saying, ³"Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo and Beon, ⁴the land which the LORD conquered before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock." ⁵They said, "If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession; do not take us across the Jordan."

⁶But Moses said to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben, "Shall your brothers go to war while you yourselves sit here? ⁷"Now why are you discouraging the sons of Israel from crossing over into the land which the LORD has given them? ⁸"This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land. ⁹"For when they went up to the valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the sons of Israel so that they did not go into the land which the LORD had given them. ¹⁰"So the LORD'S anger burned in that day, and He swore, saying, ¹¹`None of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob; for they did not follow Me fully, ¹²except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have followed the LORD fully.' ¹³"So the LORD'S anger burned against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the entire generation of those who had done evil in the sight of the LORD was destroyed. ¹⁴"Now behold, you have risen up in your fathers' place, a brood of sinful men, to add still more to the burning anger of the LORD against Israel. ¹⁵"For if you turn away from following Him, He will once more abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all these people."

¹⁶Then they came near to him and said, "We will build here sheepfolds for our livestock and cities for our little ones; ¹⁷but we ourselves will be armed ready to go before the sons of Israel, until we have brought them to their place, while our little ones live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. ¹⁸"We will not return to our homes until every one of the sons of Israel has possessed his inheritance. ¹⁹"For we will not have an inheritance with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has fallen to us on this side of the Jordan toward the east."

²⁰So Moses said to them, "If you will do this, if you will arm yourselves before the LORD for the war, ²¹and all of you armed men cross over the Jordan before the LORD until He has driven His enemies out from before Him, ²²and the land is subdued before the LORD, then afterward you shall return and be free of obligation toward the LORD and toward Israel, and this land shall be yours for a possession before the LORD. ²³"But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out. ²⁴"Build yourselves cities for your little ones, and sheepfolds for your sheep, and do what you have promised."

²⁵The sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, "Your servants will do just as my lord commands. ²⁶"Our little ones, our wives, our livestock and all our cattle shall remain there in the cities of Gilead; ²⁷while your servants, everyone who is armed for war, will cross over in the presence of the LORD to battle, just as my lord says."

²⁸So Moses gave command concerning them to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers' households of the tribes of the sons of Israel. ²⁹Moses said to them, "If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben, everyone who is armed for battle, will cross with you over the Jordan in the presence of the LORD, and the land is subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession; ³⁰but if they will not cross over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan." ³¹The sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben answered, saying, "As the LORD has said to your servants, so we will do. ³²"We ourselves will cross over armed in the presence of the LORD into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us across the Jordan."

³³So Moses gave to them, to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben and to the half-tribe of Joseph's son Manasseh, the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og, the king of Bashan, the land with its cities with their territories, the cities of the surrounding land. ³⁴The sons of Gad built Dibon and Ataroth and Aroer, ³⁵and Atroth-shophan and Jazer and Jogbehah, ³⁶and Beth-nimrah and Beth-haran as fortified cities, and sheepfolds for sheep. ³⁷The sons of Reuben built Heshbon and Elealeh and Kiriathaim, ³⁸and Nebo and Baal-meon--their names being changed--and Sibmah, and they gave other names to the cities which they built. ³⁹The sons of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead and took it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it. ⁴⁰So Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh, and he lived in it. ⁴¹Jair the son of Manasseh went and took its towns, and called them Havvoth-jair. ⁴²Nobah went and took Kenath and its villages, and called it Nobah after his own name.

33 Review of the Journey from Egypt to Jordan

¹These are the journeys of the sons of Israel, by which they came out from the land of Egypt by their armies, under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. ²Moses recorded their starting places according to their journeys by the command of the LORD, and these are their journeys according to their starting places. ³They journeyed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the next day after the Passover the sons of Israel started out boldly in the sight of all the Egyptians, ⁴while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn whom the LORD had struck down among them. The LORD had also executed judgments on their gods.

⁵Then the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses and camped in Succoth. ⁶They journeyed from Succoth and camped in Etham, which is on the edge of the wilderness. ⁷They journeyed from Etham and turned back to Pi-hahiroth, which faces Baal-zephon, and they camped before Migdol. ⁸They journeyed from before Hahiroth and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness; and they went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham and camped at Marah. ⁹They journeyed from Marah and came to Elim; and in Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there. ¹⁰They journeyed from Elim and camped by the Red Sea. ¹¹They journeyed from the Red Sea and camped in the wilderness of Sin. ¹²They journeyed from the wilderness of Sin and camped at Dophkah. ¹³They journeyed from Dophkah and camped at Alush. ¹⁴They journeyed from Alush and camped at Rephidim; now it was there that the people had no water to drink. ¹⁵They journeyed from Rephidim and camped in the wilderness of Sinai. ¹⁶They journeyed from the wilderness of Sinai and camped at Kibroth-hattaavah.

¹⁷They journeyed from Kibroth-hattaavah and camped at Hazeroth. ¹⁸They journeyed from Hazeroth and camped at Rithmah. ¹⁹They journeyed from Rithmah and camped at Rimmon-perez. ²⁰They journeyed from Rimmon-perez and camped at Libnah. ²¹They journeyed from Libnah and camped at Rissah. ²²They journeyed from Rissah and camped in Kehelathah. ²³They journeyed from Kehelathah and camped at Mount Shepher. ²⁴They journeyed from Mount Shepher and camped at Haradah. ²⁵They journeyed from Haradah and camped at Makheloth. ²⁶They journeyed from Makheloth and camped at Tahath. ²⁷They journeyed from Tahath and camped at Terah. ²⁸They journeyed from Terah and camped at Mithkah. ²⁹They journeyed from Mithkah and camped at Hashmonah. ³⁰They journeyed from Hashmonah and camped at Moseroth. ³¹They journeyed from Moseroth and camped at Bene-jaakan. ³²They journeyed from Bene-jaakan and camped at Hor-haggidgad. ³³They journeyed from Hor-haggidgad and camped at Jotbathah. ³⁴They journeyed from Jotbathah and camped at Abronah. ³⁵They journeyed from Abronah and camped at Ezion-geber. ³⁶They journeyed from Ezion-geber and camped in the wilderness of Zin, that is, Kadesh. ³⁷They journeyed from Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor, at the edge of the land of Edom.

³⁸Then Aaron the priest went up to Mount Hor at the command of the LORD, and died there in the fortieth year after the sons of Israel had come from the land of Egypt, on the first day in the fifth month. ³⁹Aaron was one hundred twenty-three years old when he died on Mount Hor.

⁴⁰Now the Canaanite, the king of Arad who lived in the Negev in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the sons of Israel.

⁴¹Then they journeyed from Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah. ⁴²They journeyed from Zalmonah and camped at Punon. ⁴³They journeyed from Punon and camped at Oboth. ⁴⁴They journeyed from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, at the border of Moab. ⁴⁵They journeyed from Iyim and camped at Dibon-gad. ⁴⁶They journeyed from Dibon-gad and camped at Almon-diblathaim. ⁴⁷They journeyed from Almon-diblathaim and camped in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo. ⁴⁸They journeyed from the mountains of Abarim and camped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho. ⁴⁹They camped by the Jordan, from Beth-jeshimoth as far as Abel-shittim in the plains of Moab.

Law of Possessing the Land

⁵⁰Then the LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying, ⁵¹"Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, `When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ⁵²then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places; ⁵³and you shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it. ⁵⁴`You shall inherit the land by lot according to your families; to the larger you shall give more inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give less inheritance. Wherever the lot falls to anyone, that shall be his. You shall inherit according to the tribes of your fathers. ⁵⁵`But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come about that those whom you let remain of them will become as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land in which you live. ⁵⁶`And as I plan to do to them, so I will do to you.'"