Numbers 32-36

New King James Version

The Tribes Settling East of the Jordan^(A)

32 Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of livestock; and when they saw the land of ^(B)Jazer and the land of ^(C)Gilead, that indeed the region was a place for livestock, ² the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the leaders of the congregation, saying, ³ “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, ^(D)Nimrah, ^(E)Heshbon, Elealeh, ^(F)Shebam, Nebo, and ^(G)Beon, ⁴ the country ^(H)which the Lord defeated before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.” ⁵ Therefore 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 over the Jordan.”

⁶ And Moses said to the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben: “Shall your brethren go to war while you sit here? ⁷ Now why will you ^(I)discourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord has given them? ⁸ Thus your fathers did ^(J)when I sent them away from Kadesh Barnea ^(K)to see the land. ⁹ For ^(L)when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, so that they did not go into the land which the Lord had given them. ^10 (M)So the Lord’s anger was aroused on that day, and He swore an oath, saying, ¹¹ ‘Surely none of the men who came up from Egypt, ^(N)from twenty years old and above, shall see the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because ^(O)they have not wholly followed Me, ¹² except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, ^(P)for they have wholly followed the Lord.’ ¹³ So the Lord’s anger was aroused against Israel, and He made them ^(Q)wander in the wilderness forty years, until ^(R)all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was gone. ¹⁴ And look! You have risen in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more the ^(S)fierce anger of the Lord against Israel. ¹⁵ For if you ^(T)turn away from following Him, He will once again leave them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all these people.”

¹⁶ Then they came near to him and said: “We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones, ¹⁷ but ^(U)we ourselves will be armed, ready to go before the children of Israel until we have brought them to their place; and our little ones will dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. ^18 (V)We will not return to our homes until every one of the children of Israel has ^[a]received his inheritance. ¹⁹ For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, ^(W)because our inheritance has fallen to us on this eastern side of the Jordan.”

²⁰ Then ^(X)Moses said to them: “If you do this thing, if you arm yourselves before the Lord for the war, ²¹ and all your armed men cross over the Jordan before the Lord until He has driven out His enemies from before Him, ²² and ^(Y)the land is subdued before the Lord, then afterward ^(Z)you may return and be blameless before the Lord and before Israel; and ^(AA)this land shall be your possession before the Lord. ²³ But if you do not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure ^(AB)your sin will find you out. ^24 (AC)Build cities for your little ones and folds for your sheep, and do ^[b]what has proceeded out of your mouth.”

²⁵ And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying: “Your servants will do as my lord commands. ^26 (AD)Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our livestock will be there in the cities of Gilead; ^27 (AE)but your servants will cross over, every man armed for war, before the Lord to battle, just as my lord says.”

²⁸ So Moses gave command ^(AF)concerning them to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua the son of Nun, and to 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 cross over the Jordan with you, every man armed for battle before the Lord, and the land is subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead as a possession. ³⁰ But if they do not cross over armed with you, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.”

³¹ Then 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, but the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us on this side of the Jordan.”

³³ So ^(AG)Moses gave to the children of Gad, to the children of Reuben, and to half the tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, ^(AH)the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land with its cities within the borders, the cities of the surrounding country. ³⁴ And the children of Gad built ^(AI)Dibon and Ataroth and ^(AJ)Aroer, ³⁵ Atroth and Shophan and ^(AK)Jazer and Jogbehah, ^36 (AL)Beth Nimrah and Beth Haran, ^(AM)fortified cities, and folds for sheep. ³⁷ And the children of Reuben built ^(AN)Heshbon and Elealeh and Kirjathaim, ^38 (AO)Nebo and ^(AP)Baal Meon ^(AQ)(their names being changed) and Shibmah; and they gave other names to the cities which they built.

³⁹ And the children of ^(AR)Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead and took it, and ^[c]dispossessed the Amorites who were in it. ⁴⁰ So Moses ^(AS)gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh, and he dwelt in it. ⁴¹ Also ^(AT)Jair the son of Manasseh went and took its small towns, and called them ^(AU)Havoth Jair.^{[d] 42} Then Nobah went and took Kenath and its villages, and he called it Nobah, after his own name.

Israel’s Journey from Egypt Reviewed

33 These are the journeys of the children of Israel, who went out of the land of Egypt by their armies under the ^(AV)hand of Moses and Aaron. ² Now Moses wrote down the starting points of their journeys at the command of the Lord. And these are their journeys according to their starting points:

³ They ^(AW)departed from Rameses in ^(AX)the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day after the Passover the children of Israel went out ^(AY)with boldness in the sight of all the Egyptians. ⁴ For the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, ^(AZ)whom the Lord had killed among them. Also ^(BA)on their gods the Lord had executed judgments.

^5 (BB)Then the children of Israel moved from Rameses and camped at Succoth. ⁶ They departed from ^(BC)Succoth and camped at Etham, which is on the edge of the wilderness. ^7 (BD)They moved from Etham and turned back to Pi Hahiroth, which is east of Baal Zephon; and they camped near Migdol. ⁸ They departed ^[e]from before Hahiroth and ^(BE)passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, went three days’ journey in the Wilderness of Etham, and camped at Marah. ⁹ They moved from Marah and ^(BF)came to Elim. At Elim were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped there.

¹⁰ They moved from Elim and camped by the Red Sea. ¹¹ They moved from the Red Sea and camped in the ^(BG)Wilderness of Sin. ¹² They journeyed from the Wilderness of Sin and camped at Dophkah. ¹³ They departed from Dophkah and camped at Alush. ¹⁴ They moved from Alush and camped at ^(BH)Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.

¹⁵ They departed from Rephidim and camped in the ^(BI)Wilderness of Sinai. ¹⁶ They moved from the Wilderness of Sinai and camped ^(BJ)at ^[f]Kibroth Hattaavah. ¹⁷ They departed from Kibroth Hattaavah and ^(BK)camped at Hazeroth. ¹⁸ They departed from Hazeroth and camped at ^(BL)Rithmah. ¹⁹ They departed from Rithmah and camped at Rimmon Perez. ²⁰ They departed from Rimmon Perez and camped at Libnah. ²¹ They moved from Libnah and camped at Rissah. ²² They journeyed from Rissah and camped at Kehelathah. ²³ They went from Kehelathah and camped at Mount Shepher. ²⁴ They moved from Mount Shepher and camped at Haradah. ²⁵ They moved from Haradah and camped at Makheloth. ²⁶ They moved from Makheloth and camped at Tahath. ²⁷ They departed from Tahath and camped at Terah. ²⁸ They moved from Terah and camped at Mithkah. ²⁹ They went from Mithkah and camped at Hashmonah. ³⁰ They departed from Hashmonah and ^(BM)camped at Moseroth. ³¹ They departed from Moseroth and camped at Bene Jaakan. ³² They moved from ^(BN)Bene Jaakan and ^(BO)camped at Hor Hagidgad. ³³ They went from Hor Hagidgad and camped at Jotbathah. ³⁴ They moved from Jotbathah and camped at Abronah. ³⁵ They departed from Abronah ^(BP)and camped at Ezion Geber. ³⁶ They moved from Ezion Geber and camped in the ^(BQ)Wilderness of Zin, which is Kadesh. ³⁷ They moved from ^(BR)Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor, on the boundary of the land of Edom.

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

⁴⁰ Now ^(BT)the king of Arad, the Canaanite, who dwelt in the South in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the children of Israel.

⁴¹ So they departed from Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah. ⁴² They departed from Zalmonah and camped at Punon. ⁴³ They departed from Punon and ^(BU)camped at Oboth. ^44 (BV)They departed from Oboth and camped at Ije Abarim, at the border of Moab. ⁴⁵ They departed from ^[g]Ijim and camped ^(BW)at Dibon Gad. ⁴⁶ They moved from Dibon Gad and camped at ^(BX)Almon Diblathaim. ⁴⁷ They moved from Almon Diblathaim ^(BY)and camped in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo. ⁴⁸ They departed from the mountains of Abarim and ^(BZ)camped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho. ⁴⁹ They camped by the Jordan, from Beth Jesimoth as far as the ^(CA)Abel Acacia Grove^[h] in the plains of Moab.

Instructions for the Conquest of Canaan

⁵⁰ Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho, saying, ⁵¹ “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ^(CB)‘When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ^52 (CC)then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their engraved stones, destroy all their molded images, and demolish all their ^[i]high places; ⁵³ you shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land and dwell in it, for I have given you the land to ^(CD)possess. ⁵⁴ And ^(CE)you shall divide the land by lot as an inheritance among your families; to the larger you shall give a larger inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give a smaller inheritance; there everyone’s inheritance shall be whatever falls to him by lot. 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 be that those whom you let remain shall be ^(CF)irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell. ⁵⁶ Moreover it shall be that I will do to you as I thought to do to them.’ ”

The Appointed Boundaries of Canaan

34 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Command the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into ^(CG)the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you as an inheritance—the land of Canaan to its boundaries. ^3 (CH)Your southern border shall be from the Wilderness of Zin along the border of Edom; then your southern border shall extend eastward to the end of ^(CI)the Salt Sea; ⁴ your border shall turn from the southern side of ^(CJ)the Ascent of Akrabbim, continue to Zin, and be on the south of ^(CK)Kadesh Barnea; then it shall go on to ^(CL)Hazar Addar, and continue to Azmon; ⁵ the border shall turn from Azmon ^(CM)to the Brook of Egypt, and it shall end at the Sea.

⁶ ‘As for the ^(CN)western border, you shall have the Great Sea for a border; this shall be your western border.

⁷ ‘And this shall be your northern border: From the Great Sea you shall mark out your border line to ^(CO)Mount Hor; ⁸ from Mount Hor you shall mark out your border ^(CP)to the entrance of Hamath; then the direction of the border shall be toward ^(CQ)Zedad; ⁹ the border shall proceed to Ziphron, and it shall end at ^(CR)Hazar Enan. This shall be your northern border.

¹⁰ ‘You shall mark out your eastern border from Hazar Enan to Shepham; ¹¹ the border shall go down from Shepham ^(CS)to Riblah on the east side of Ain; the border shall go down and reach to the eastern ^[j]side of the Sea ^(CT)of Chinnereth; ¹² the border shall go down along the Jordan, and it shall end at ^(CU)the Salt Sea. This shall be your land with its surrounding boundaries.’ ”

¹³ Then Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying: ^(CV)“This is the land which you shall inherit by lot, which the Lord has commanded to give to the nine tribes and to the half-tribe. ^14 (CW)For the tribe of the children of Reuben according to the house of their fathers, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to the house of their fathers, have received their inheritance; and the half-tribe of Manasseh has received its inheritance. ¹⁵ The two tribes and the half-tribe have received their inheritance on this side of the Jordan, across from Jericho eastward, toward the sunrise.”

The Leaders Appointed to Divide the Land

¹⁶ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷ “These are the names of the men who shall divide the land among you as an inheritance: ^(CX)Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun. ¹⁸ And you shall take one ^(CY)leader of every tribe to divide the land for the inheritance. ¹⁹ These are the names of the men: from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh; ²⁰ from the tribe of the children of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud; ²¹ from the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon; ²² a leader from the tribe of the children of Dan, Bukki the son of Jogli; ²³ from the sons of Joseph: a leader from the tribe of the children of Manasseh, Hanniel the son of Ephod, ²⁴ and a leader from the tribe of the children of Ephraim, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan; ²⁵ a leader from the tribe of the children of Zebulun, Elizaphan the son of Parnach; ²⁶ a leader from the tribe of the children of Issachar, Paltiel the son of Azzan; ²⁷ a leader from the tribe of the children of Asher, Ahihud the son of Shelomi; ²⁸ and a leader from the tribe of the children of Naphtali, Pedahel the son of Ammihud.”

²⁹ These are the ones the Lord commanded to ^[k]divide the inheritance among the children of Israel in the land of Canaan.

Cities for the Levites

35 And the Lord spoke to Moses in ^(CZ)the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, saying: ^2 (DA)“Command the children of Israel that they give the Levites cities to dwell in from the inheritance of their possession, and you shall also give the Levites ^(DB)common-land around the cities. ³ They shall have the cities to dwell in; and their common-land shall be for their cattle, for their herds, and for all their animals. ⁴ The common-land of the cities which you will give the Levites shall extend from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits all around. ⁵ And you shall measure outside the city on the east side two thousand cubits, on the south side two thousand cubits, on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits. The city shall be in the middle. This shall belong to them as common-land for the cities.

⁶ “Now among the cities which you will give to the Levites you shall appoint ^(DC)six cities of refuge, to which a manslayer may flee. And to these you shall add forty-two cities. ⁷ So all the cities you will give to the Levites shall be ^(DD)forty-eight; these you shall give with their common-land. ⁸ And the cities which you will give shall be ^(DE)from the possession of the children of Israel; ^(DF)from the larger tribe you shall give many, from the smaller you shall give few. Each shall give some of its cities to the Levites, in proportion to the inheritance that each receives.”

Cities of Refuge^(DG)

⁹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰ “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ^(DH)‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ¹¹ then ^(DI)you shall appoint cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person accidentally may flee there. ^12 (DJ)They shall be cities of refuge for you from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation in judgment. ¹³ And of the cities which you give, you shall have ^(DK)six cities of refuge. ^14 (DL)You shall appoint three cities on this side of the Jordan, and three cities you shall appoint in the land of Canaan, which will be cities of refuge. ¹⁵ These six cities shall be for refuge for the children of Israel, ^(DM)for the stranger, and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills a person accidentally may flee there.

^16 (DN)‘But if he strikes him with an iron implement, so that he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. ¹⁷ And if he strikes him with a stone in the hand, by which one could die, and he does die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. ¹⁸ Or if he strikes him with a wooden hand weapon, by which one could die, and he does die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. ^19 (DO)The^[l] avenger of blood himself shall put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death. ^20 (DP)If he pushes him out of hatred or, ^(DQ)while lying in wait, hurls something at him so that he dies, ²¹ or in enmity he strikes him with his hand so that he dies, the one who struck him shall surely be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.

²² ‘However, if he pushes him suddenly ^(DR)without enmity, or throws anything at him without lying in wait, ²³ or uses a stone, by which a man could die, throwing it at him without seeing him, so that he dies, while he was not his enemy or seeking his harm, ²⁴ then ^(DS)the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood according to these judgments. ²⁵ So the congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall return him to the city of refuge where he had fled, and ^(DT)he shall remain there until the death of the high priest ^(DU)who was anointed with the holy oil. ²⁶ But if the manslayer at any time goes outside the limits of the city of refuge where he fled, ²⁷ and the avenger of blood finds him outside the limits of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of ^[m]blood, ²⁸ because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession.

²⁹ ‘And these things shall be ^(DV)a statute of judgment to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings. ³⁰ Whoever kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the ^(DW)testimony of witnesses; but one witness is not sufficient testimony against a person for the death penalty. ³¹ Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death. ³² And you shall take no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the priest. ³³ So you shall not pollute the land where you are; for blood ^(DX)defiles the land, and no ^[n]atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except ^(DY)by the blood of him who shed it. ³⁴ Therefore ^(DZ)do not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell; for ^(EA)I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel.’ ”

Marriage of Female Heirs

36 Now the chief fathers of the families of the ^(EB)children of Gilead the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near and ^(EC)spoke before Moses and before the leaders, the chief fathers of the children of Israel. ² And they said: ^(ED)“The Lord commanded my lord Moses to give the land as an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel, and ^(EE)my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. ³ Now if they are married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then their inheritance will be ^(EF)taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and it will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry; so it will be taken from the lot of our inheritance. ⁴ And when ^(EG)the Jubilee of the children of Israel comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry; so their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.”

⁵ Then Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of the Lord, saying: ^(EH)“What the tribe of the sons of Joseph speaks is right. ⁶ This is what the Lord commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, ‘Let them ^[o]marry whom they think best, ^(EI)but they may marry only within the family of their father’s tribe.’ ⁷ So the inheritance of the children of Israel shall not change hands from tribe to tribe, for every one of the children of Israel shall ^(EJ)keep the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. ⁸ And ^(EK)every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel shall be the wife of one of the family of her father’s tribe, so that the children of Israel each may possess the inheritance of his fathers. ⁹ Thus no inheritance shall change hands from one tribe to another, but every tribe of the children of Israel shall keep its own inheritance.”

¹⁰ Just as the Lord commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad; ^11 (EL)for Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married to the sons of their father’s brothers. ¹² They were married into the families of the children of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father’s family.

¹³ These are the commandments and the judgments which the Lord commanded the children of Israel by the hand of Moses ^(EM)in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho.