Numbers 32–33

Chapter 32

¹Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle; and they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and behold, the place was a place for cattle. ²So the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben came and said to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the congregation, ³“Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon, ⁴the land which the Lord smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle; and your servants have cattle.” 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 sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben, “Shall your brethren 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 which the Lord has given them? ⁸Thus did your fathers, when 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 which the Lord had given them. ¹⁰And 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, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not wholly followed me; ¹²none except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the Lord.’ ¹³And the Lord’s anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was consumed. ¹⁴And behold, you have risen in your fathers’ stead, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more the fierce anger of the Lord against Israel! ¹⁵For if you turn 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, “We will build sheepfolds here for our flocks, and cities for our little ones, ¹⁷but 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. ¹⁸We will not return to our homes until the people of Israel have inherited each his inheritance. ¹⁹For 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.” ²⁰So Moses 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 driven 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 this land shall be your possession before the Lord. ²³But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out. ²⁴Build cities for your little ones, and folds for your sheep; and do what you have promised.” ²⁵And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben said to Moses, “Your servants will do as my lord commands. ²⁶Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our cattle, shall remain there in the cities of Gilead; ²⁷but your servants will pass over, every man who is armed for war, before the Lord to battle, as my lord orders.”

²⁸So Moses gave command concerning them to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua 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 sons of Gad and the sons 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; ³⁰but if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.” ³¹And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben answered, “As the Lord has said to your servants, so 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 Moses gave to them, to the sons of Gad and to the sons 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 sons of Gad built Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, ³⁵Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, ³⁶Beth-nimrah and Beth-haran, fortified cities, and folds for sheep. ³⁷And the sons of Reuben built Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim, ³⁸Nebo, and Baal-meon (their names to be changed), and Sibmah; and they gave other names to the cities which they built. ³⁹And the sons of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead and took it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it. ⁴⁰And Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh, and he settled in it. ⁴¹And Jair the son of Manasseh went and took their villages, and called them Havvoth-jair.⁴²And Nobah went and took Kenath and its villages, and called it Nobah, after his own name.

Chapter 33

¹These are the stages of the people of Israel, when they went forth out of the land of Egypt by their hosts under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. ²Moses wrote down their starting places, stage by stage, by command of the Lord; and these are their stages according to their starting places. ³They set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day after the passover the people of Israel went out triumphantly in the sight of all the Egyptians, ⁴while the Egyptians were burying all their first-born, whom the Lord had struck down among them; upon their gods also the Lord executed judgments.

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

³⁸And Aaron the priest went up Mount 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 a hundred and twenty-three years old when he died on Mount Hor.

⁴⁰And the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who dwelt 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 encamped at Zalmonah. ⁴²And they set out from Zalmonah, and encamped at Punon. ⁴³And they set out from Punon, and encamped at Oboth. ⁴⁴And they set out from Oboth, and encamped at Iye-abarim, in the territory of Moab. ⁴⁵And they set out from Iyim, and encamped at Dibon-gad. ⁴⁶And they set out from Dibon-gad, and encamped at Almon-diblathaim. ⁴⁷And they set out from Almon-diblathaim, and encamped in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo. ⁴⁸And they set out from the mountains of Abarim, and encamped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho; ⁴⁹they encamped by the Jordan from Beth-jeshimoth as far as Abel-shittim in the plains of Moab.

⁵⁰And the Lord said to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, ⁵¹“Say to the people of Israel, When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ⁵²then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all…