¹⁶They came near to him and said, “We will build sheep pens here for the flock of our livestock and cities for our little children; ¹⁷but we ourselves will become armed and ready before the Israelites^r until we have brought them to their place, and our little children will live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. ¹⁸We will not return to our houses until the Israelites^s each obtain their^t inheritance for themselves. ¹⁹For we will not take possession with them from across the Jordan and beyond because our inheritance has come to us from across the Jordan to the east.”

Read in Logos

Footnotes

rLiterally “sons/children of Israel”
sLiterally “sons/children of Israel”
tHebrew “his”

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

Then they came near to him and said, “We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones, but we 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. We will not return to our homes until each of the people of Israel has gained his 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 to the east.”

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Then they came up to him and said, “We would like to build pens here for our livestock and cities for our women and children. But we will arm ourselves for battle and go ahead of the Israelites until we have brought them to their place. Meanwhile our women and children will live in fortified cities, for protection from the inhabitants of the land. We will not return to our homes until each of the Israelites has received their inheritance. We will not receive any inheritance with them on the other side of the Jordan, because our inheritance has come to us on the east side of the Jordan.”

CSBChristian Standard Bible

Then they approached him and said, “We want to build sheep pens here for our livestock and cities for our dependents. But we will arm ourselves and be ready to go ahead of the Israelites until we have brought them into their place. Meanwhile, our dependents will remain in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return to our homes until each of the Israelites has taken possession of his inheritance. Yet we will not have an inheritance with them across the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance will be across the Jordan to the east.”

NLTNew Living Translation

But they approached Moses and said, “We simply want to build pens for our livestock and fortified towns for our wives and children. Then we will arm ourselves and lead our fellow Israelites into battle until we have brought them safely to their land. Meanwhile, our families will stay in the fortified towns we build here, so they will be safe from any attacks by the local people. We will not return to our homes until all the people of Israel have received their portions of land. But we do not claim any of the land on the other side of the Jordan. We would rather live here on the east side and accept this as our grant of land.”

KJV 1900King James Version

And they came near unto him, and said, We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones: But we ourselves will go ready armed before the children of Israel, until we have brought them unto their place: and our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities because of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return unto our houses, until the children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance. For we will not inherit with them on yonder side Jordan, or forward; because our inheritance is fallen to us on this side Jordan eastward.

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