Numbers 32:1-20 ▼

1 NOW the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle; and when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, behold, the place was a place for cattle;

2 The children of Reuben and the children of Gad came and said to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the princes of the congregation,

3 Ataroth, Ribon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sheba, Nebo, and Beon,

4 The land which the LORD smote before the children of Israel is a land for cattle, and your servants have cattle;

5 Wherefore, they said, if we have found mercy in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession, and bring us not across the Jordan.

6 And Moses said to the children of Reuben and to the children of Gad, Shall your brethren go to war, while you settle here?

7 Why do you discourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the LORD has given them?

8 Thus did your fathers, when I sent them from Rakim-gia to spy out the land.

9 For when they went up as far as the valley of Segola, and spied out the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel that they should not go into the land which the LORD had given them.

10 And the LORD'S anger was kindled against them on that day, and he swore, saying,

11 Surely none of the men who came up out of the land of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me;

12 Except Caleb the son of Jophaniah the Kenezite and Joshua the son of Nun; for they have wholly followed the LORD.

13 And 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.

14 And, behold, you also are risen up in your father's stead, a generation of sinful men, to augment still the fierce anger of the LORD against Israel.

15 For if you turn away from after the LORD, he will again make you wander in the wilderness; and you shall destroy all this people.

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

17 But we ourselves will arm and go before the children of Israel, until we have brought them to their place; and our little ones shall dwell in fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land.

18 We will not return to our houses until the children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance;

19 For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan or beyond; because we have already received our inheritance on this side of the Jordan eastward.

20 And Moses said to them, If you will do this thing and arm yourselves before the LORD for war,