Numbers 32
1 And the children of Ruben and the
children of Gad had
aGr. cattle, a multitude, greatly a multitude.a multitude of cattle, very great; and they saw the land of Jazer, and the
land of Galaad; and the place was a place for cattle:
2 and the children of Ruben and the
children of Gad came, and spoke to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to
the princes of the congregation, saying,
3 Ataroth, and Dæbon, and Jazer, and
Namra, and Esebon, and Eleale, and Sebama, and Nabau, and Bæan,
4 the land which the Lord has
delivered up before the children of Israel, is pasture land, and thy servants
have cattle. 5 And they said, If we
have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given to thy servants for a
possession, and do not cause us to pass over Jordan.
6 And Moses said to the sons of Gad
and the sons of Ruben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here?
7 And why do ye pervert the minds of
the children of Israel, that they should not cross over into the land, which
the Lord gives them? 8 Did not your
fathers thus, when I sent them from Cades Barne to spy out the land?
9 and they went up to the valley of
the cluster, and spied the land, and turned aside the heart of the children of
Israel, that they should not go into the land, which the Lord gave them.
10 And the Lord was very angry in
that day, and sware, saying,
11 Surely these men who came up out
of Egypt from twenty years old and upward, who know good and evil, shall not
see the land which I sware to give to Abraam and
Isaac and Jacob, for they have not closely followed after me:
12 save Caleb the son of Jephonne,
who was set apart, and Joshua the son of Naue, for they closely followed after
the Lord. 13 And the Lord was very
angry with Israel; and for forty years he caused them to wander in the
wilderness, until all the generation which did evil
bOr, before.in the sight of the Lord was extinct.
14 Behold, ye are risen up in the
room of your fathers, a
cOr, an evil race, lit. a destruction, but some read, σύστρεμμα.combination of sinful men, to increase yet farther the fierce wrath of the
Lord against Israel. 15 For ye will
turn away from him to desert him yet once more in the wilderness, and ye will
sin against this whole congregation.
16 And they came to him, and said, We
will build here folds for our cattle, and cities for our possessions;
17 and we will arm ourselves and go
as an advanced guard before the children of Israel, until we shall have
brought them into their place; and our possessions shall remain in walled
cities because of the inhabitants of the land.
18 We will not return to our houses
till the children of Israel shall have been distributed, each to his own
inheritance. 19 And we will not any
longer inherit with them from the other side of Jordan and onwards, because we
have our full inheritance on the side beyond Jordan eastward.
20 And Moses said to them, If ye will
do according to
dGr. this word.these words, if ye will arm yourselves before the Lord for battle,
21 and every one of you will pass
over Jordan fully armed before the Lord, until his enemy be destroyed from
before his face, 22 and the land
shall be subdued before the Lord, then afterwards ye shall return, and be
guiltless before the Lord, and as regards Israel; and this land shall be to
you for a possession before the Lord.
23 But if ye will not do so, ye will
sin against the Lord; and ye shall know your sin, when afflictions shall come
upon you. 24 And ye shall build for
yourselves cities for your store, and folds for your cattle; and ye shall do
that which proceeds out of your mouth.
25 And the sons of Ruben and the sons
of Gad spoke to Moses, saying, Thy servants will do as our lord commands.
26 Our store, and our wives, and all
our cattle shall be in the cities of Galaad.
27 But thy servants will go over all
armed and set in order before the Lord to battle, as
our lord says.
28 And Moses appointed to them
for judges Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of
Naue, and the chiefs of the families of the tribes of Israel.
29 And Moses said to them, If the
sons of Ruben and the sons of Gad will pass over Jordan with you, every one
armed for war before the Lord, and ye shall subdue the land before you, then
ye shall give to them the land of Galaad for a possession.
30 But if they will not pass over
armed with you to war before the Lord, then shall ye cause to pass over their
possessions and their wives and their cattle before you into the land of
Chanaan, and they shall inherit with you in the land of Chanaan.
31 And the sons of Ruben and the sons
of Gad answered, saying, Whatsoever
eOr, our Lord, or, our master, i. e. Moses.the Lord says to his servants, that will we do.
32 We will go over armed before the
Lord into the land of Chanaan, and ye shall give us our inheritance beyond
Jordan.
33 And Moses gave to them, even to
the sons of Gad and the sons of Ruben, and to the half tribe of Manasse of the
sons of Joseph, the kingdom of Seon king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of
Og king of Basan, the land and
fGr. the cities.its cities with its coasts, the cities of the land round about.
34 And the sons of Gad built Dæbon,
and Ataroth, and Aroer, 35 and
Sophar, and Jazer, and they set them up,
36 and Namram, and Bætharan, strong
cities, and folds for sheep. 37 And
the sons of Ruben built Esebon, and Eleale, and Kariatham,
38 and Beelmeon, surrounded
with walls, and Sebama; and they called the names of
the cities which they built, after their own names.
39 And a son of Machir the son of
Manasse went to Galaad, and took it, and destroyed the Amorite who dwelt in
it. 40 And Moses gave Galaad to
Machir the son of Manasse, and he dwelt there.
41 And Jair the
son of Manasse went and took their
gOr, folds.villages, and called them the villages of Jair.
42 And Nabau went and took Caath and
her villages, and called them Naboth after his name.