Reuben and Gad Settle on the Other Side of the Jordan

Numbers 32

Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of livestock. They saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead. They saw that the it was a place for livestock. Then 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 congregation, saying, “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon, the land which YHWH struck before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock; and your servants have livestock.” They said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession. Don’t bring us over the Jordan.”

Moses said to the children of Gad and the children of Reuben, “Should y’all’s brothers go to war while y’all sit here? Why do y’all discourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which YHWH has given them? That is what y’all’s ancestors did so when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land. For when they went up to the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which YHWH had given them. YHWH’s anger burned in that day, and he swore, saying, ‘Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, none of the men who came up out of Egypt, twenty years old or more, will see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, because they have followed YHWH completely.’ YHWH’s anger burned against Israel, and he made them wander back and forth in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation who had done evil in YHWH’s sight was consumed.

“Look, y’all have risen up in the place of y’all’s ancestors as a brood of sinners adding to the fierce anger of YHWH against Israel. For if y’all turn away from following ʜɪᴍ, ʜᴇ will once again leave them in the wilderness, and y’all will destroy all these people.”

They came near to him, and said, “We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones; but we will arm ourselves and be ready to go ahead the children of Israel, until we have brought them to their place, while our little ones dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return to our houses until the children of Israel have all received their inheritance. For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan eastward.”

Moses said to them: “If y’all will do this—if y’all arm yourselves before YHWH for battle, and every one of y’all’s armed men crosses over the Jordan before YHWH until he has driven out his enemies from before him, and the land is subdued before YHWH—then afterward y’all may return and be clear of obligation to YHWH and to Israel. Then this land will be y’all’s possession before YHWH.

“But if y’all will not do so, then look, y’all have sinned against YHWH. And y’all must know that y’all’s sin will find y’all out. Y’all are to build cities for y’all’s children and folds for y’all’s sheep. And y’all are do that what proceeded from y’all’s mouth.”

The children of Gad and the children of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, “Your servants will do as my lord commands. Our children, wives, flocks, and all our livestock will remain in the cities of Gilead; but your servants will cross over, every man who is armed for war, before YHWH to battle, as my lord says.”

So Moses commanded 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 children of Israel. Moses said to them, “If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will cross over the Jordan with y’all, every man who is armed to battle before YHWH, and the land is subdued before y’all, then y’all are to give them the land of Gilead for a possession. But if they will not cross over with y’all armed, they must receive possession with y’all in the land of Canaan.”

The children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying, “As YHWH has said to your servants, so will we do. We will cross over armed before YHWH into the land of Canaan, but the possession of our inheritance will remain with us across the Jordan.”

Moses gave to them, even to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, and to the half-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, according to its cities and borders, even the cities of the surrounding land. The children of Gad built Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, Beth Nimrah, and Beth Haran: fortified cities and folds for sheep. The children of Reuben built Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim, Nebo, and Baal Meon, (their names being changed), and Sibmah. They gave other names to the cities which they built. The children of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead, took it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were therein. Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh; and he lived therein. Jair the son of Manasseh went and took its villages, and called them Havvoth Jair. Nobah went and took Kenath and its villages, and called it Nobah, after his own name.