Numbers 32–33

Reuben and Gad Settle in Gilead

32Now the people of Reuben and the people of Gad had a very great number of livestock. And they saw the land of ^vJazer and the land of Gilead, and behold, the place was a place for livestock. ²So the people of Gad and the people of Reuben came and said to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the chiefs of the congregation, ^3w“Ataroth, ^xDibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, ^yNebo, and Beon, ⁴the land ^zthat the Lord struck down before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.” ⁵And they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession. Do not take us across the Jordan.”

⁶But Moses said to the people of Gad and to the people of Reuben, “Shall your brothers go to the war while you sit here? ⁷Why will you discourage the heart of the people of Israel from going over into the land that the Lord has given them? ⁸Your fathers did this, ^awhen I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land. ⁹For when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the people of Israel from going into the land that the Lord had given them. ^10bAnd the Lord’s anger was kindled on that day, and he swore, saying, ¹¹‘Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, ^cfrom twenty years old and upward, shall see the land that I swore to give ^dto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not wholly followed me, ¹²none except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the ^eKenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for ^fthey have wholly followed the Lord.’ ¹³And the Lord’s anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them ^gwander in the wilderness forty years, until ^hall the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was gone. ¹⁴And behold, you have risen in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more the fierce anger of the Lord against Israel! ¹⁵For if you ⁱturn away from following him, he will again abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all this people.”

¹⁶Then they came near to him and said, ^j“We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones, ¹⁷but ^kwe will take up arms, ready to go before the people of Israel, until we have brought them to their place. And our little ones shall live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. ^18lWe will not return to our homes until each of the people of Israel has gained his inheritance. ¹⁹For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, ^mbecause our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan to the east.” ²⁰So ⁿMoses said to them, “If you will do this, if you will take up arms to go before the Lord for the war, ²¹and every armed man of you will pass over the Jordan before the Lord, until he has ^odriven out his enemies from before him ²²and the land is subdued before the Lord; then after that you shall return and be free of obligation to the Lord and to Israel, and ^pthis land shall be your possession before the Lord. ²³But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and ^qbe sure your sin will find you out. ^24rBuild cities for your little ones and folds for your sheep, and do what you have promised.” ²⁵And the people of Gad and the people of Reuben said to Moses, “Your servants will do as my lord commands. ^26sOur little ones, our wives, our livestock, and all our cattle shall remain there in the cities of Gilead, ^27tbut your servants will pass over, every man who is ^uarmed for war, before the Lord to battle, as my lord orders.”

²⁸So ^vMoses gave command concerning them to Eleazar the priest and to ^wJoshua the son of Nun and to the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the people of Israel. ²⁹And Moses said to them, “If the people of Gad and the people of Reuben, every man who is armed to battle before the Lord, will pass with you over the Jordan and the land shall be subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession. ³⁰However, if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.” ³¹And the people of Gad and the people of Reuben answered, “What the Lord has said to your servants, we will do. ³²We will pass over armed before the Lord into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us beyond the Jordan.”

³³And ^xMoses gave to them, to the people of Gad and to the people 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 and its cities with their territories, the cities of the land throughout the country. ³⁴And the people of Gad built ^yDibon, ^zAtaroth, ^aAroer, ³⁵Atroth-shophan, ^bJazer, Jogbehah, ^36cBeth-nimrah and Beth-haran, ^dfortified cities, and folds for sheep. ³⁷And the people of Reuben built ^eHeshbon, ^yElealeh, Kiriathaim, ^38fNebo, and ^gBaal-meon (^htheir names were changed), and ^cSibmah. And they gave other names to the cities that they built. ³⁹And the sons of ⁱMachir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead and captured it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it. ⁴⁰And Moses ^jgave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh, and he settled in it. ⁴¹And ^kJair the son of Manasseh went and captured their villages, and called them Havvoth-jair.^{1 42}And Nobah went and captured Kenath and its villages, and called it Nobah, after his own name.

Recounting Israel’s Journey

33These are the stages of the people of Israel, when they went out of the land of Egypt by their companies under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. ²Moses wrote down their starting places, ^lstage by stage, by command of the Lord, and these are their stages according to their starting places. ³They ^mset out from Rameses in ⁿthe first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month. On the day after the Passover, the people of Israel went out ^otriumphantly in the sight of all the Egyptians, ⁴while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, ^pwhom the Lord had struck down among them. ^qOn their gods also the Lord executed judgments.

⁵So the people of Israel set out from Rameses and camped at ^rSuccoth. ⁶And they set out from Succoth and camped at ^sEtham, which is on the edge of the wilderness. ⁷And they set out from Etham and turned back to ^tPi-hahiroth, which is east of Baal-zephon, and they camped before Migdol. ⁸And they set out from before Hahiroth¹ and ^upassed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and they ^vwent a three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham and camped at Marah. ⁹And they set out from Marah and came to ^wElim; at Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there. ¹⁰And they set out from Elim and camped by the Red Sea. ¹¹And they set out from the Red Sea and camped in ^xthe wilderness of Sin. ¹²And they set out from the wilderness of Sin and camped at Dophkah. ¹³And they set out from Dophkah and camped at Alush. ¹⁴And they set out from Alush and camped at ^yRephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink. ¹⁵And they set out from Rephidim and camped in the ^zwilderness of Sinai. ¹⁶And they set out from the wilderness of Sinai and camped at ^aKibroth-hattaavah. ¹⁷And they set out from Kibroth-hattaavah and camped at ^bHazeroth. ¹⁸And they ^cset out from Hazeroth and camped at Rithmah. ¹⁹And they set out from Rithmah and camped at Rimmon-perez. ²⁰And they set out from Rimmon-perez and camped at Libnah. ²¹And they set out from Libnah and camped at Rissah. ²²And they set out from Rissah and camped at Kehelathah. ²³And they set out from Kehelathah and camped at Mount Shepher. ²⁴And they set out from Mount Shepher and camped at Haradah. ²⁵And they set out from Haradah and camped at Makheloth. ²⁶And they set out from Makheloth and camped at Tahath. ²⁷And they set out from Tahath and camped at Terah. ²⁸And they set out from Terah and camped at Mithkah. ²⁹And they set out from Mithkah and camped at Hashmonah. ³⁰And they set out from Hashmonah and camped at Moseroth. ³¹And they set out from Moseroth and camped at ^dBene-jaakan. ³²And they set out from Bene-jaakan and camped at ^eHor-haggidgad. ³³And they set out from Hor-haggidgad and camped at ^eJotbathah. ³⁴And they set out from Jotbathah and camped at Abronah. ³⁵And they set out from Abronah and camped at ^fEzion-geber. ³⁶And they set out from Ezion-geber and camped in the ^gwilderness of Zin (that is, Kadesh). ³⁷And they set out from ^hKadesh and camped at ⁱMount Hor, on the edge of the land of Edom.

³⁸And Aaron the priest went up ^jMount Hor at the command of the Lord and died there, in the fortieth year after the people of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, on the first day of the fifth month. ³⁹And Aaron was ^k123 years old when he died on Mount Hor.

⁴⁰And ^lthe Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the people of Israel.

⁴¹And they set out from Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah. ⁴²And they set out from Zalmonah and camped at Punon. ⁴³And they set out from Punon and camped at ^mOboth. ⁴⁴And they set out from Oboth and camped at ⁿIye-abarim, in the territory of Moab. ⁴⁵And they set out from Iyim and camped at ^oDibon-gad. ⁴⁶And they set out from Dibon-gad and camped at Almon-diblathaim. ⁴⁷And they set out from Almon-diblathaim ^pand camped in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo. ⁴⁸And they set out from the mountains of Abarim and camped in ^qthe plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho; ⁴⁹they camped by the Jordan from Beth-jeshimoth as far as ^rAbel-shittim in the plains of Moab.

Drive Out the Inhabitants

⁵⁰And the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, ⁵¹“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ^sWhen you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ⁵²then ^tyou shall drive out ^uall the inhabitants of the land…