Numbers 32

And the sons of Rouben and the sons of Gad had cattle, a multitude, an exceedingly great multitude; and they saw the country of Iazer and the country of Galaad, and the place was a place for cattle.

And the sons of Rouben and the sons of Gad came near and spoke to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the rulers of the congregation, saying:

Ataroth and Daibon and Iazer and Nambra and Esebon and Elealeh and Sebama and Nabau and Baian,

the land which the Lord delivered up before the sons of Israel, is a land for raising cattle, and your servants have cattle.

And they said: If we have found favour before you, let this land be given to your household servants as a possession, and do not take us across the Jordan.

And Moses said to the sons of Gad and the sons of Rouben: Your brothers go to war, and will you sit here?

And why do you turn aside the minds of the sons of Israel, so that they should not cross over into the land which the Lord gives them?

Did not your fathers do thus, when I sent them from Kades Barne to observe the land?

And they went up to the Ravine of the Cluster and observed the land, and they turned away the heart of the sons of Israel, so that they should not enter into the land which the Lord gave them.

And the Lord was angry with wrath on that day, and he swore, saying:

These men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, who know evil and good, shall never see the land which I swore to Abraam and Isaak and Iakob, for they did not follow closely after me;

except Chaleb son of Iephonne, the one who was set apart, and Joshua son of Naue, because he followed closely after the Lord.

And the Lord was angry with wrath against Israel, and he made them wander about in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation, those doing evil things before the Lord, was consumed.

Behold, you have risen up in place of your fathers, a band of sinful men, to add yet more to the fury of the Lord's anger against Israel.

For you will turn away from him, to add yet again to leaving him in the wilderness, and you will act lawlessly against this whole congregation.

And they came near to him and said: Let us build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our households;

and we ourselves, having armed ourselves, will be an advance guard going before the sons of Israel until we bring them into their own place; and our households will dwell in walled cities because of those inhabiting the land.

We will not return to our houses until the sons of Israel have each been apportioned to his inheritance.

And we will no longer inherit among them from beyond the Jordan and further on, because we have received our lots beyond the Jordan, in the east.

And Moses said to them: If you do according to this word, if you arm yourselves before the Lord for war,

and every armed man of you crosses the Jordan before the Lord, until his enemy is destroyed from before him,

and the land is subdued before the Lord — then afterward you shall return and shall be guiltless before the Lord and before Israel, and this land shall be yours as a possession before the Lord.

But if you do not do so, you will sin before the Lord; and you shall know your sin when the evils overtake you.

And you shall build for yourselves cities for your households, and folds for your cattle; and you shall do what proceeds out of your mouth.

And the sons of Rouben and the sons of Gad said to Moses, saying: Your servants will do just as our lord commands.

Our households and our wives and all our cattle will be in the cities of Galaad;

but your servants will all cross over armed and drawn up in array before the Lord for the war, in the manner our lord says.

And Moses appointed for them Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Naue and the rulers of the ancestral houses of the tribes of Israel.

And Moses said to them: If the sons of Rouben and the sons of Gad cross the Jordan with you, everyone armed for war before the Lord, and you subdue the land before you, then you shall give them the land of Galaad as a possession.

But if they do not cross over armed with you to the war before the Lord, then you shall bring over their households and their wives and their cattle ahead of you into the land of Chanaan, and they shall be given an inheritance together with you in the land of Chanaan.

And the sons of Rouben and the sons of Gad answered, saying: Whatever the Lord says to his attendants, so we will do.

We will cross over armed before the Lord into the land of Chanaan; and you shall give us the possession beyond the Jordan.

And Moses gave to them — to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Rouben and to the half tribe of Manasse, sons of Ioseph — the kingdom of Seon king of the Amorrites and the kingdom of Og king of Basan: the land and the cities with its borders, the cities of the land round about.

And the sons of Gad built Daibon and Ataroth and Aroer,

and Sophar and Iazer, and they raised them up high;

and Nambran and Baitharan, fortified cities, and sheepfolds.

And the sons of Rouben built Esebon and Elealeh and Kariathaim,

and Beelmeon, encircled with walls, and Sebama; and they named, according to their own names, the names of the cities which they built.

And a son of Machir son of Manasse went to Galaad and took it and destroyed the Amorrite who dwelt in it.

And Moses gave Galaad to Machir son of Manasse, and he dwelt there.

And Iair the son of Manasse went and took their villages and named them Villages of Iair.

And Nabau went and took Kanaath and its villages and named them Naboth after his own name.