Numbers 32:1–19

¹And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had much cattle, a very great multitude; and they saw the land of Jaazer, and the land of Gilead, and behold, the place was a place for cattle. ²And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the princes of the assembly, saying, ³Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jaazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elaleh, and Sebam, and Nebo, and Beon, ⁴the country that Jehovah smote before the assembly of Israel, is a land for cattle, and thy servants have cattle; ⁵and they said, If we have found favour in thine eyes, let this land be given to thy servants for a possession: bring us not over the Jordan. ⁶And Moses said to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye abide here? ⁷And why do ye discourage the children of Israel from going over into the land that Jehovah has given them? ⁸Thus did your fathers, when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land: ⁹they went up to the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, and discouraged the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land that Jehovah had given them. ¹⁰And Jehovah’s anger was kindled the same time, and he swore, saying, ¹¹If the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land that I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob! for they have not wholly followed me; ¹²save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun; for they have wholly followed Jehovah. ¹³And Jehovah’s anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation was consumed that had done evil in the eyes of Jehovah. ¹⁴And behold, ye are risen up in your fathers’ stead, a progeny of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of Jehovah toward Israel. ¹⁵If ye turn away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and ye shall destroy all this people.

¹⁶And they drew near to him, and said, We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones; ¹⁷but we ourselves will go with diligence armed before the children of Israel, until we have brought them to their place; and our little ones shall dwell in the strong cities because of the inhabitants of the land. ¹⁸We will not return to our houses, until the children of Israel have inherited each one his inheritance. ¹⁹For we will not inherit with them on yonder side the Jordan, and further, because our inheritance is fallen to us on this side the Jordan eastward.