Gad and Reuben Inherit Gilead

32 The descendantsa of Reuben and the descendantsb of Gad had a very large number of livestock. And they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and behold it was a place for livestock. 2 The descendantsc of Gad and the descendantsd of Reuben came, and they said to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the community, saying, 3 “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon, 4 the land that Yahweh struck before the community of Israel, is a land of livestock, and your servants have livestock.” 5 They said, “If we have found favor in ⌊your sight⌋,e let this land be given to your servants as property; do not lead us across the Jordan.”

6 But Moses said to the descendantsf of Gad and to the descendantsg of Reuben, “Will your brothers go to war while you yourselves live here? 7 Why are you discouraging the hearts of the ⌊Israelites⌋h from crossing into the land that Yahweh gave to them? 8 This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land. 9 When they went up to the valleyi of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the ⌊Israelites⌋j so that they did not come to the land that Yahweh gave to them. 10 So ⌊Yahweh’s anger burned⌋k on that day, and he swore an oath, saying, 11 ‘The men who went up from Egypt, from ⌊those twenty years old⌋l and above, will not see the land that I swore with an oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob because they have not wholly followed me, 12 except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, because they followed Yahweh wholly.’ 13 And ⌊Yahweh became angry⌋,m and he made them wander in the desert forty years until the entire generation who did evil in the ⌊sight of Yahweh⌋n ⌊had died⌋.o 14 Behold, you stand in the place of your fathers, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more ⌊Yahweh’s fierce anger⌋p against Israel. 15 If you turn from following him, he will again abandon themq in the wilderness, and you would have destroyed all these people.”