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N U MBERS 3 3
twenty years old or older will ever see the land I
swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for
they have not obeyed me wholeheartedly. 12 The
only exceptions are Caleb son of Jephunneh the
Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they have
wholeheartedly followed the Lord.’
13 “The Lord was angry with Israel and made
them wander in the wilderness for forty years
until the entire generation that sinned in the
Lord’s sight had died. 14 But here you are, a brood
of sinners, doing exactly the same thing! You are
making the Lord even angrier with Israel. 15 If you
turn away from him like this and he abandons
them again in the wilderness, you will be responsible for destroying this entire nation!”
16 But they approached Moses and said, “We
simply want to build pens for our livestock
and fortified towns for our wives and children.
17 Then we will arm ourselves and lead our fellow Israelites into battle until we have brought
them safely to their land. Meanwhile, our families will stay in the fortified towns we build here,
so they will be safe from any attacks by the local
people. 18 We will not return to our homes until
all the people of Israel have received their portions of land. 19 But we do not claim any of the
land on the other side of the Jordan. We would
rather live here on the east side and accept this
as our grant of land.”
20 Then Moses said, “If you keep your word
and arm yourselves for the Lord’s battles,
21 and if your troops cross the Jordan and keep
fighting until the Lord has driven out his enemies, 22 then you may return when the Lord
has conquered the land. You will have fulfilled
your duty to the Lord and to the rest of the
people of Israel. And the land on the east side
of the Jordan will be your property from the
Lord. 23 But if you fail to keep your word, then
you will have sinned against the Lord, and you
may be sure that your sin will find you out.
24 Go ahead and build towns for your families
and pens for your flocks, but do everything you
have promised.”
25 Then the men of Gad and Reuben replied,
“We, your servants, will follow your instructions exactly. 26 Our children, wives, flocks, and
cattle will stay here in the towns of Gilead. 27 But
all who are able to bear arms will cross over to
fight for the Lord, just as you have said.”
28 So Moses gave orders to Eleazar the priest,
Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders of the clans
of Israel. 29 He said, “The men of Gad and Reuben who are armed for battle must cross the
Jordan with you to fight for the Lord. If they do,
give them the land of Gilead as their property
when the land is conquered. 30 But if they refuse
to arm themselves and cross over with you, then
they must accept land with the rest of you in the
land of Canaan.”
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31 The tribes of Gad and Reuben said again,
“We are your servants, and we will do as the
Lord has commanded! 32 We will cross the Jordan into Canaan fully armed to fight for the
Lord, but our property will be here on this side
of the Jordan.”
33 So Moses assigned land to the tribes of Gad,
Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh son of
Joseph. He gave them the territory of King Sihon of the Amorites and the land of King Og of
Bashan—the whole land with its cities and surrounding lands.
34 The descendants of Gad built the towns of
Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, 35 Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, 36 Beth-nimrah, and Beth-haran.
These were all fortified towns with pens for
their flocks.
37 The descendants of Reuben built the towns
of Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim, 38 Nebo, Baalmeon, and Sibmah. They changed the names
of some of the towns they conquered and
rebuilt.
39 Then the descendants of Makir of the tribe
of Manasseh went to Gilead and conquered it,
and they drove out the Amorites living there.
40 So Moses gave Gilead to the Makirites, descendants of Manasseh, and they settled there.
41 The people of Jair, another clan of the tribe
of Manasseh, captured many of the towns in
Gilead and changed the name of that region to
the Towns of Jair.* 42 Meanwhile, a man named
Nobah captured the town of Kenath and its surrounding villages, and he renamed that area
Nobah after himself.
Remembering Israel’s Journey
This is the route the Israelites followed
as they marched out of Egypt under the
leadership of Moses and Aaron. 2 At the Lord’s
direction, Moses kept a written record of their
progress. These are the stages of their march,
identified by the different places where they
stopped along the way.
3 They set out from the city of Rameses in
early spring—on the fifteenth day of the first
month*—on the morning after the first Passover
celebration. The people of Israel left defiantly,
in full view of all the Egyptians. 4 Meanwhile,
the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn
sons, whom the Lord had killed the night before. The Lord had defeated the gods of Egypt
that night with great acts of judgment!
33
5 After
leaving Rameses, the Israelites set up
camp at Succoth.
6 Then they left Succoth and camped at Etham
on the edge of the wilderness.
7 They left Etham and turned back toward
Pi-hahiroth, opposite Baal-zephon, and
camped near Migdol.
32:41 Hebrew Havvoth-jair. 33:3 This day in the ancient Hebrew
lunar calendar occurred in late March, April, or early May.