Numbers 32
Modern English Version
The Tribes Settling in Gilead
32 Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great number of livestock, and when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead was a place for livestock, 2 the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the leaders of the assembly, saying, 3 “Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Sebam, and Nebo, and Beon, 4 the land which the Lord defeated before the assembly of Israel is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.” 5 And they said, “If we have found mercy in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession, and do not take us over the Jordan.”
6 Moses said to the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, “Will your brothers go to war, and you will dwell here? 7 And why would you discourage the hearts of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord has given to them? 8 Thus your fathers did, when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land. 9 When they went up to the Valley of Eshkol and saw the land, they discouraged the hearts of the children of Israel so they would not go into the land which the Lord had given them. 10 And the anger of the Lord was inflamed on that day, and He swore, saying, 11 ‘Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and older, will see the ground which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they did not completely follow Me, 12 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, because they completely followed the Lord.’ 13 The anger of the Lord was inflamed against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that did evil in the eyes of the Lord was finished.
14 “Behold, you have risen up in your fathers’ place, an increase of sinful men, to increase more the burning anger of the Lord toward Israel. 15 If you turn away from following Him, He will again abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all this people.”
16 They approached him and said, “We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock and cities for our children. 17 But we ourselves will be armed, ready before the children of Israel, until we have brought them to their place. Our little ones will dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. 18 We will not return to our houses until all the children of Israel have inherited their inheritance. 19 We will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan or beyond, because our inheritance fell to us on this side of the Jordan to the east.”
20 Moses said to them, “If you will do this thing, if you will be armed before the Lord for war, 21 and all of you, each armed, will go over the Jordan before the Lord until He has driven out His enemies from before Him 22 and the land is subdued before the Lord, then after that you will return and be exempt before the Lord and before Israel, and this land will be your possession before the Lord.
23 “But if you will not do so, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out. 24 Build for yourselves cities for your children and folds for your sheep, and do that which has proceeded out of your mouth.”
25 The children of Gad and the children of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, “Your servants will do as my lord commands. 26 Our children, our wives, our flocks, and all our livestock will be there in the cities of Gilead, 27 but your servants will cross over, each man armed for war, before the Lord to battle, as my lord says.”
28 So Moses commanded Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the chief fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel. 29 And Moses said to them, “If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will cross over the Jordan with you, each man armed for battle before the Lord, and the land will be subdued before you, you are to give them the land of Gilead as a possession. 30 But if they do not cross over with you armed, they will have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.”
31 The children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying, “As the Lord has said to your servants, so we will do. 32 We will cross over, armed before the Lord into the land of Canaan, so the possession of our inheritance on this side of the Jordan may be ours.”
33 Moses gave to the children of Gad, to the children of Reuben, and to half the 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 with the cities within the borders, the cities of the surrounding land.
34 The children of Gad built Dibon and Ataroth and Aroer, 35 Atroth Shophan and Jazer and Jogbehah, 36 Beth Nimrah and Beth Haran, fortified cities, and folds for sheep. 37 And the children of Reuben built Heshbon and Elealeh and Kiriathaim, 38 Nebo and Baal Meon (their names being changed) and Sibmah; and they named the other cities which they built.
39 The children of Makir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead and captured it and drove out the Amorites who were in it. 40 Moses gave Gilead to Makir the son of Manasseh, and he lived in it. 41 Jair the son of Manasseh went and captured its small towns and called them Havvoth Jair. 42 Nobah went and captured Kenath and its villages and called it Nobah, after his own name.
Numbers 32
Legacy Standard Bible
Reuben and Gad Possess Gilead
32 Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had an (A)exceedingly large number of livestock. And they saw the land of (B)Jazer and the land of Gilead, that [a]it was indeed a place suitable for livestock, 2 so the 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 “(C)Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon, 4 the land, (D)which Yahweh struck before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.” 5 And they 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.”
6 But 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 (E)Now why are you [b]discouraging the sons of Israel from crossing over into the land which Yahweh has given them? 8 [c]This is what your fathers did when I sent them from (F)Kadesh-barnea to see the land. 9 Indeed they went up to (G)the [d]valley of Eshcol and saw the land, and they [e]discouraged the sons of Israel so that they did not go into the land which Yahweh had given them. 10 So (H)Yahweh’s anger burned in that day, and He swore an oath, saying, 11 ‘(I)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, 12 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, (J)for they have followed Yahweh fully.’ 13 (K)So Yahweh’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 Yahweh was brought to an end. 14 Now behold, you have risen up in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinful men, to add still more to the burning (L)anger of Yahweh against Israel. 15 For if you (M)turn away from following Him, He will once more abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all these people.”
16 Then they came near to him and said, “We will build here sheepfolds for our livestock and cities for our little ones; 17 (N)but we ourselves will be armed ready to go before the sons of Israel, until we have brought them to their place, and our little ones live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. 18 (O)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 (P)on this side of the Jordan east.”
20 (Q)So Moses said to them, “If you will do [f]this, if you will arm yourselves before Yahweh for the war, 21 and all of you armed men cross over the Jordan before Yahweh until He has dispossessed His enemies from before Him, 22 (R)and the land is subdued before Yahweh, then afterward you shall return and be free of obligation toward Yahweh and toward Israel, and this land shall be yours for a possession before Yahweh. 23 But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against Yahweh, and be sure (S)your sin will find you out. 24 Build yourselves cities for your little ones and sheepfolds for your sheep, and (T)do [g]what you have promised.”
25 And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, “Your servants will do just as my lord commands. 26 (U)Our little ones, our wives, our livestock, and all our cattle shall [h]remain there in the cities of Gilead; 27 but your servants, everyone who is armed for war, will (V)cross over in the presence of Yahweh to battle, just as my lord says.”
28 So Moses gave a 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. 29 And Moses 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 Yahweh, and the land is subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession; 30 but if they will not cross over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.” 31 And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben answered, saying, “As Yahweh has said to your servants, so we will do. 32 We ourselves will cross over armed in the presence of Yahweh into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us across the Jordan.”
33 (W)So 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 [i]territories, the cities of the surrounding land. 34 And the sons of Gad built Dibon and Ataroth and (X)Aroer, 35 and Atroth-shophan and Jazer and Jogbehah, 36 and (Y)Beth-nimrah and Beth-haran as fortified cities, and sheepfolds for sheep. 37 And the sons of Reuben built Heshbon and Elealeh and Kiriathaim, 38 and (Z)Nebo and Baal-meon—their names being changed—and Sibmah, and they gave other names to the cities which they built. 39 And the sons of (AA)Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead and took it and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it. 40 So Moses gave (AB)Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh, and he lived in it. 41 And Jair the son of Manasseh went and took its [j]towns and called them [k](AC)Havvoth-jair. 42 And Nobah went and took Kenath and its towns and called it Nobah after (AD)his own name.
Footnotes
- Numbers 32:1 Lit behold, the place, a place for
- Numbers 32:7 Lit restraining the hearts of
- Numbers 32:8 Lit Thus your fathers
- Numbers 32:9 Or wadi
- Numbers 32:9 Lit restrained the hearts of
- Numbers 32:20 Lit this thing
- Numbers 32:24 Lit that which has come out of your mouth
- Numbers 32:26 Lit be
- Numbers 32:33 Lit borders
- Numbers 32:41 Lit tent villages
- Numbers 32:41 Lit the towns of Jair
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.
Legacy Standard Bible Copyright ©2021 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org For Permission to Quote Information visit https://www.LSBible.org.