¹Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had very much livestock, exceedingly numerous; and they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and look, the place was a place of livestock.

²So the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and said to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the chiefs of the congregation, saying,

³Ataroth and Dibon and Jazer and Nimrah and Heshbon and Elealeh and Sebam and Nebo and Beon,

⁴The land which Yahweh struck before the face of the congregation of Israel, it is a land for livestock, and your slaves have livestock.

⁵And they said, If we have found favor in your eyes, let this land be given to your slaves for a possession; do not make us cross the Jordan.

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

⁷And why do you hold back the heart of the children of Israel from crossing over into the land which Yahweh has given them?

⁸Like this your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land.

⁹They came up to the wadi of Eshcol and saw the land, and they held back the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which Yahweh had given them.

¹⁰And the anger of Yahweh burned on that day, and he swore an oath, saying,

¹¹Surely the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and above, shall not see the ground which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; for they have not wholly followed after me,

¹²except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed after Yahweh.

¹³And the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation that did the evil in the eyes of Yahweh perished.

¹⁴And look, you have risen up in place of your fathers, a brood of sinful men, to add still more to the burning anger of Yahweh against Israel.

¹⁵For if you turn back from after him, he will once more leave them in the wilderness, and you will ruin all this people.

¹⁶And they came near to him and said, We will build sheepfolds for our livestock here, and cities for our children;

¹⁷but we ourselves will arm, hastening before the face of the children of Israel, until we have brought them to their place, while our children dwell in the walled cities from before the face of those who dwell in the land.

¹⁸We will not return to our houses until the children of Israel have each taken his inheritance.

¹⁹For we will not inherit with them from the other side of the Jordan and beyond, for our inheritance has come to us from the side of the Jordan toward the sunrise.

²⁰And Moses said to them, If you do this word, if you arm yourselves before the face of Yahweh for the war,

²¹and every armed one of you will cross over the Jordan before the face of Yahweh, until he has dispossessed his enemies from before his face,

²²and the land is subdued before the face of Yahweh, and afterward you return, and you will be innocent before Yahweh and before Israel, and this land will be yours as a possession before the face of Yahweh.

²³But if you do not do so, look, you have sinned against Yahweh; and know that your sin will find you.

²⁴Build for yourselves cities for your children, and sheepfolds for your flocks; and that which has gone out from your mouth, you shall do.

²⁵And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben said to Moses, saying, Your slaves will do as my lord commands.

²⁶Our children, our wives, our livestock, and all our animals will be there in the cities of Gilead;

²⁷but your slaves will pass over, all the armed host, before the face of Yahweh to the war, as my lord speaks.

²⁸And Moses commanded Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel, concerning them.

²⁹And Moses said to them, If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben cross over the Jordan with you, every one armed for the war before the face of Yahweh, and the land is subdued before your face, then you shall give them the land of Gilead as a possession.

³⁰But if they do not cross over armed with you, they will take possession in your midst in the land of Canaan.

³¹And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying, That which Yahweh has spoken to your slaves, so we will do.

³²We will cross over armed before the face of Yahweh into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance will be with us on this side of the Jordan.

³³And Moses gave to them, to the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben and to the half of the tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon the king of the Amorite and the kingdom of Og the king of Bashan, the land with its cities within the borders, the cities of the land all around.

³⁴And the children of Gad built Dibon and Ataroth and Aroer,

³⁵and Atroth-shophan and Jazer and Jogbehah,

³⁶and Beth-nimrah and Beth-haran, walled cities, and sheepfolds for the flocks.

³⁷And the children of Reuben built Heshbon and Elealeh and Kiriathaim,

³⁸and Nebo and Baal-meon, their names changed, and Sibmah; and they called the cities that they had built by names.

³⁹And the children of Machir son of Manasseh went to Gilead and captured it, and dispossessed the Amorite who was in it.

⁴⁰And Moses gave Gilead to Machir son of Manasseh, and he dwelled in it.

⁴¹And Jair son of Manasseh went and captured their tent-villages, and called them the Tent-villages of Jair.

⁴²And Nobah went and captured Kenath and its daughter villages, and called it Nobah after his own name.