Numbers 32:20–28

²⁰So Moses said to them, “If you do this—if you take up arms to go before the Lord for the war^{* 21}and all those of you who bear arms cross the Jordan before the Lord, until he has driven out his enemies from before him ²²and the land is subdued before the Lord—then after that you may return and be free of obligation to the Lord and to Israel, and this land shall be your possession before the Lord.^{* 23}But if you do not do this, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out. ²⁴Build towns for your little ones and folds for your flocks, but do what you have promised.”^*

²⁵Then the Gadites and the Reubenites said to Moses, “Your servants will do as my lord commands. ²⁶Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our livestock shall remain there in the towns of Gilead,^{* 27}but your servants will cross over, everyone armed for war, to do battle for the Lord, just as my lord orders.”^*

²⁸So Moses gave command concerning them to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua son of Nun, and to the heads of the ancestral houses of the Israelite tribes.^*