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
The Message
Tribes East of the Jordan
32 1-4 The families of Reuben and Gad had huge herds of livestock. They saw that the country of Jazer and Gilead was just the place for grazing livestock. And so they came, the families of Gad and of Reuben, and spoke to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the leaders of the congregation, saying, “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon—the country that God laid low before the community of Israel—is a country just right for livestock, and we have livestock.”
5 They continued, “If you think we’ve done a good job so far, give us this country for our inheritance. Don’t make us go across the Jordan.”
6-12 Moses answered the families of Gad and Reuben: “Do you mean that you are going to leave the fighting that’s ahead to your brothers while you settle down here? Why would you even think of letting the People of Israel down, demoralizing them just as they’re about to move into the land God gave them? That’s exactly what your ancestors did when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to survey the country. They went as far as the Valley of Eshcol, took one look and quit. They completely demoralized the People of Israel from entering the land God had given them. And God got angry—oh, did he get angry! He swore: ‘They’ll never get to see it; none of those who came up out of Egypt who are twenty years and older will ever get to see the land that I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They weren’t interested in following me—their hearts weren’t in it. None, except for Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua son of Nun; they followed me—their hearts were in it.’
13 “God’s anger smoked against Israel. He made them wander in the wilderness for forty years, until that entire generation that acted out evil in his sight had died out.
14-15 “And now here you are, just one more mob of sinners stepping up to replace your ancestors, throwing fuel on the already blazing anger of God against Israel. If you won’t follow him, he’ll do it again. He’ll dump them in the desert and the disaster will be all your fault.”
16-19 They came close to him and said, “All we want to do is build corrals for our livestock and towns for our families. Then we’ll take up arms and take the front lines, leading the People of Israel to their place. We’ll be able to leave our families behind, secure in fortified towns, safe from those who live in the land. But we won’t go back home until every Israelite is in full possession of his inheritance. We won’t expect any inheritance west of the Jordan; we are claiming all our inheritance east of the Jordan.”
20-22 Moses said, “If you do what you say, take up arms before God for battle and together go across the Jordan ready, before God, to fight until God has cleaned his enemies out of the land, then when the land is secure you will have fulfilled your duty to God and Israel. Then this land will be yours to keep before God.
23-24 “But if you don’t do what you say, you will be sinning against God; you can be sure that your sin will track you down. So, go ahead. Build towns for your families and corrals for your livestock. Do what you said you’d do.”
25-27 The families of Gad and Reuben told Moses: “We will do as our master commands. Our children and wives, our flocks and herds will stay behind here in the towns of Gilead. But we, every one of us fully armed, will cross the river to fight for God, just as our master has said.”
28-30 So Moses issued orders for them to Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the ancestral tribes of the People of Israel. Moses said, “If the families of Gad and Reuben cross the Jordan River with you and before God, all armed and ready to fight, then after the land is secure, you may give them the land of Gilead as their inheritance. But if they don’t cross over with you, they’ll have to settle up with you in Canaan.”
31-32 The families of Gad and Reuben responded: “We will do what God has said. We will cross the Jordan before God, ready and willing to fight. But the land we inherit will be here, to the east of the Jordan.”
33 Moses gave the families of Gad, Reuben, and 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, its towns, and all the territories connected with them—the works.
34-36 The Gadites rebuilt Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, Atroth Shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, Beth Nimrah, and Beth Haran as fortified cities; they also built corrals for their animals.
37-38 The Reubenites rebuilt Heshbon, Elealeh, and Kiriathaim, also Nebo and Baal Meon and Sibmah. They renamed the cities that they rebuilt.
39-40 The family of Makir son of Manasseh went to Gilead, captured it, and drove out the Amorites who lived there. Moses then gave Gilead to the Makirites, the descendants of Manasseh. They moved in and settled there.
41 Jair, another son of Manasseh, captured some villages and named them Havvoth Jair (Jair’s Tent-Camps).
42 Nobah captured Kenath and its surrounding camps. He renamed it after himself, Nobah.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson