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.

The Land Divided East of the Jordan

⁸ With the other half-tribe the Reubenites and the Gadites received their inheritance, ^(A)which Moses had given them, ^(B)beyond the Jordan eastward, as Moses the servant of the Lord had given them: ⁹ from Aroer which is on the bank of the River Arnon, and the town that is in the midst of the ravine, ^(C)and all the plain of Medeba as far as Dibon; ^10 (D)all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, as far as the border of the children of Ammon; ^11 (E)Gilead, and the border of the Geshurites and Maachathites, all Mount Hermon, and all Bashan as far as Salcah; ¹² all the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei, who remained of ^(F)the remnant of the giants; ^(G)for Moses had ^[a]defeated and ^[b]cast out these.

^14 (A)Only to the tribe of Levi he had given ^[a]no inheritance; the sacrifices of the Lord God of Israel made by fire are their inheritance, ^(B)as He said to them.

The Land of Reuben

^15 (C)And Moses had given to the tribe of the children of Reuben an inheritance according to their families. ¹⁶ Their territory was ^(D)from Aroer, which is on the bank of the River Arnon, ^(E)and the city that is in the midst of the ravine, ^(F)and all the plain by Medeba; ^17 (G)Heshbon and all its cities that are in the plain: Dibon, Bamoth Baal, Beth Baal Meon, ^18 (H)Jahaza, Kedemoth, Mephaath, ^19 (I)Kirjathaim, ^(J)Sibmah, Zereth Shahar on the mountain of the valley, ²⁰ Beth Peor, ^(K)the slopes of Pisgah, and Beth Jeshimoth— ^21 (L)all the cities of the plain and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, ^(M)whom Moses had struck ^(N)with the princes of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, who were princes of Sihon dwelling in the country. ²² The children of Israel also killed with the sword ^(O)Balaam the son of Beor, the ^[b]soothsayer, among those who were killed by them. ²³ And the border of the children of Reuben was the bank of the Jordan. This was the inheritance of the children of Reuben according to their families, the cities and their villages.

The Land of Gad

^24 (P)Moses also had given an inheritance to the tribe of Gad, to the children of Gad according to their families. ^25 (Q)Their territory was Jazer, and all the cities of Gilead, ^(R)and half the land of the Ammonites as far as Aroer, which is before ^(S)Rabbah, ²⁶ and from Heshbon to Ramath Mizpah and Betonim, and from Mahanaim to the border of Debir, ²⁷ and in the valley ^(T)Beth Haram, Beth Nimrah, ^(U)Succoth, and Zaphon, the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon, with the Jordan as its border, as far as the edge ^(V)of the ^[c]Sea of Chinnereth, on the other side of the Jordan eastward. ²⁸ This is the inheritance of the children of Gad according to their families, the cities and their villages.

Half the Tribe of Manasseh (East)

^29 (W)Moses also had given an inheritance to half the tribe of Manasseh; it was for half the tribe of the children of Manasseh according to their families: ³⁰ Their territory was from Mahanaim, all Bashan, all the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, and ^(X)all the towns of Jair which are in Bashan, sixty cities; ³¹ half of Gilead, and ^(Y)Ashtaroth and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan, were for the ^(Z)children of Machir the son of Manasseh, for half of the children of Machir according to their families.

³² These are the areas which Moses had ^[d]distributed as an inheritance in the plains of Moab on the other side of the Jordan, by Jericho eastward. ^33 (AA)But to the tribe of Levi Moses had given no inheritance; the Lord God of Israel was their inheritance, ^(AB)as He had said to them.