Numbers 32–33

Chapter 32

Reuben and Gad Settle in Gilead

¹Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had an ^aexceedingly large number of livestock. So when they saw the land of ^bJazer and the land of Gilead, that ¹it was indeed a place suitable for livestock,

²the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben came and spoke to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the congregation, saying,

³“^aAtaroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo and Beon,

⁴the land ^awhich the Lord ¹conquered before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.”

⁵They said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession; do not take us across the Jordan.”

⁶But Moses said to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben, “Shall your brothers go to war while you yourselves sit here?

⁷“^aNow why are you ¹discouraging the sons of Israel from crossing over into the land which the Lord has given them?

⁸“¹This is what your fathers did when I sent them from ^aKadesh-barnea to see the land.

⁹“For when they went up to ^athe ¹valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they ²discouraged the sons of Israel so that they did not go into the land which the Lord had given them.

¹⁰“So ^athe Lord’s anger burned in that day, and He swore, saying,

¹¹‘^aNone of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob; for they did not follow Me fully,

¹²except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, ^afor they have followed the Lord fully.’

¹³“^aSo the Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the entire generation of those who had done evil in the sight of the Lord was destroyed.

¹⁴“Now behold, you have risen up in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinful men, to add still more to the burning ^aanger of the Lord against Israel.

¹⁵“For if you ^aturn away from following Him, He will once more abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all these people.”

¹⁶Then they came near to him and said, “We will build here sheepfolds for our livestock and cities for our little ones;

^17abut we ourselves will be armed ready to go before the sons of Israel, until we have brought them to their place, while our little ones live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land.

¹⁸“^aWe will not return to our homes until every one of the sons of Israel has possessed his inheritance.

¹⁹“For we will not have an inheritance with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has fallen to us ^aon this side of the Jordan toward the east.”

^20aSo Moses said to them, “If you will do ¹this, if you will arm yourselves before the Lord for the war,

²¹and all of you armed men cross over the Jordan before the Lord until He has driven His enemies out from before Him,

^22aand the land is subdued before the Lord, then afterward you shall return and be free of obligation toward the Lord and toward Israel, and this land shall be yours for a possession before the Lord.

²³“But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure ^ayour sin will find you out.

²⁴“Build yourselves cities for your little ones, and sheepfolds for your sheep, and ^ado ¹what you have promised.”

²⁵The sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, “Your servants will do just as my lord commands.

²⁶“^aOur little ones, our wives, our livestock and all our cattle shall ¹remain there in the cities of Gilead;

²⁷while your servants, everyone who is armed for war, will ^across over in the presence of the Lord to battle, just as my lord says.”

²⁸So Moses gave command 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 sons of Israel.

²⁹Moses said to them, “If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben, everyone who is armed for battle, will cross with you over the Jordan in the presence of the Lord, and the land is subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession;

³⁰but if they will not cross over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.”

³¹The sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben answered, saying, “As the Lord has said to your servants, so we will do.

³²“We ourselves will cross over armed in the presence of the Lord into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us across the Jordan.”

^33aSo Moses gave to them, to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben and to the half-tribe of Joseph’s son Manasseh, the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og, the king of Bashan, the land with its cities with their ¹territories, the cities of the surrounding land.

³⁴The sons of Gad built Dibon and Ataroth and ^aAroer,

³⁵and Atroth-shophan and Jazer and Jogbehah,

³⁶and ^aBeth-nimrah and Beth-haran as fortified cities, and sheepfolds for sheep.

³⁷The sons of Reuben built Heshbon and Elealeh and Kiriathaim,

³⁸and ^aNebo and Baal-meon—their names being changed—and Sibmah, and they gave other names to the cities which they built.

³⁹The sons of ^aMachir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead and took it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it.

⁴⁰So Moses gave ^aGilead to Machir the son of Manasseh, and he lived in it.

⁴¹Jair the son of Manasseh went and took its ¹towns, and called them ^2aHavvoth-jair.

⁴²Nobah went and took Kenath and its villages, and called it Nobah after ^ahis own name.

Chapter 33

Review of the Journey from Egypt to Jordan

¹These are the journeys of the sons of Israel, by which they came out from the land of Egypt by their armies, under ^athe ¹leadership of Moses and Aaron.

²Moses recorded their starting places according to their journeys by the ¹command of the Lord, and these are their journeys according to their starting places.

^3aThey journeyed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the ¹next day after the Passover the sons of Israel ^bstarted out ²boldly in the sight of all the Egyptians,

⁴while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn whom the Lord had struck down among them. The Lord had also executed judgments ^aon their gods.

⁵Then ^athe sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses and camped in Succoth.

^6aThey journeyed from Succoth and camped in Etham, which is on the edge of the wilderness.

^7aThey journeyed from Etham and turned back to Pi-hahiroth, which faces Baal-zephon, and they camped before Migdol.

^8aThey journeyed ¹from before Hahiroth and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness; and ^bthey went three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham and camped at Marah.

^9aThey journeyed from Marah and came to Elim; and in Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there.

¹⁰They journeyed from Elim and camped by the ¹Red Sea.

¹¹They journeyed from the ¹Red Sea and camped in ^athe wilderness of Sin.

¹²They journeyed from the wilderness of Sin and camped at Dophkah.

¹³They journeyed from Dophkah and camped at Alush.

¹⁴They journeyed from Alush and camped ^aat Rephidim; now it was there that the people had no water to drink.

¹⁵They journeyed from Rephidim and camped in ^athe wilderness of Sinai.

¹⁶They journeyed from the wilderness of Sinai and camped at ^aKibroth-hattaavah.

¹⁷They journeyed from Kibroth-hattaavah and camped at ^aHazeroth.

¹⁸They journeyed from Hazeroth and camped at Rithmah.

¹⁹They journeyed from Rithmah and camped at Rimmon-perez.

²⁰They journeyed from Rimmon-perez and camped at ^aLibnah.

²¹They journeyed from Libnah and camped at Rissah.

²²They journeyed from Rissah and camped in Kehelathah.

²³They journeyed from Kehelathah and camped at Mount Shepher.

²⁴They journeyed from Mount Shepher and camped at Haradah.

²⁵They journeyed from Haradah and camped at Makheloth.

²⁶They journeyed from Makheloth and camped at Tahath.

²⁷They journeyed from Tahath and camped at Terah.

²⁸They journeyed from Terah and camped at Mithkah.

²⁹They journeyed from Mithkah and camped at Hashmonah.

³⁰They journeyed from Hashmonah and camped at ^aMoseroth.

³¹They journeyed from Moseroth and camped at Bene-jaakan.

³²They journeyed from ^aBene-jaakan and camped at Hor-haggidgad.

³³They journeyed from Hor-haggidgad and camped at ^aJotbathah.

³⁴They journeyed from Jotbathah and camped at Abronah.

³⁵They journeyed from Abronah and camped at ^aEzion-geber.

³⁶They journeyed from Ezion-geber and camped in the wilderness of ^aZin, that is, Kadesh.

³⁷They journeyed from Kadesh and camped at ^aMount Hor, ^bat the edge of the land of Edom.

^38aThen Aaron the priest went up to Mount Hor at the ¹command of the Lord, and died there in the fortieth year after the sons of Israel had come from the land of Egypt, on the first day in the fifth month.

³⁹Aaron was one hundred twenty-three years old when he died on Mount Hor.

⁴⁰Now the Canaanite, the king of ^aArad ¹who lived in the ²Negev in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the sons of Israel.

⁴¹Then they journeyed from Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah.

⁴²They journeyed from Zalmonah and camped at Punon.

⁴³They journeyed from Punon and camped at ^aOboth.

⁴⁴They journeyed from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, at the border of Moab.

⁴⁵They journeyed from Iyim and camped at Dibon-gad.

⁴⁶They journeyed from Dibon-gad and camped at Almon-diblathaim.

⁴⁷They journeyed from Almon-diblathaim and camped in the mountains of ^aAbarim, before Nebo.

⁴⁸They journeyed from the mountains of Abarim and ^acamped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.

⁴⁹They camped by the Jordan, from Beth-jeshimoth as far as ^aAbel-shittim in the plains of Moab.

Law of Possessing the Land

⁵⁰Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying,

⁵¹“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘^aWhen you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

⁵²then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you,…