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¹Soothly the sons of Reuben and of Gad had many beasts, and cattle without number was to them, in work beasts. And when they had seen Jazer and Gilead, to be covenable lands to beasts to be fed,

²they came to Moses, and to Eleazar, the priest, and to the princes of the multitude, and said,

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

⁴the land which the Lord smote in the sight of the sons of Israel, is of most plenteous country to the pasture of beasts; and we thy servants have full many beasts;

⁵and we pray thee, if we have found grace before thee, that thou give to us thy servants that country into possession, and make not us to pass over Jordan.

⁶To whom Moses answered, Whether your brethren shall go to battle, and ye shall sit here?

⁷Why mis-turn ye the thoughts of the sons of Israel, that they dare not pass into the place, which the Lord shall give to them?

⁸Whether your fathers did not so, when I sent them from Kadeshbarnea to espy the land,

⁹and when they came to the valley of Cluster, when all the country was compassed, they turned into fear the heart of the sons of Israel, that they entered not into the coasts, which the Lord had given to them.

¹⁰And the Lord therefore was wroth, and he swore, saying,

¹¹These men that went up from Egypt, from twenty years of age and above, shall not see the land which I promised under an oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they would not pursue me,

¹²except Caleb, the Kenezite, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun; these twain fulfilled my will.

¹³And the Lord was wroth against Israel, and led him about the desert by forty years, till all the generation was wasted, that had done evil in the sight of the Lord.

¹⁴And Moses said, Lo! ye the increasings, and nourished children, of sinful men, have risen for your fathers, that ye should increase the strong vengeance of the Lord against Israel.

¹⁵That if ye will not pursue or follow the Lord, in the wilderness he shall forsake the people, and ye shall be the cause of the death of all men.

¹⁶And they went nigh, and said, We shall make sheepfolds, and stables of beasts, and we shall make strengthened cities to our little children.

¹⁷Forsooth we ourselves shall be armed to defense, and shall be girded with arms to assailing, and shall go to battle before the sons of Israel, till we bring them into their places; our little children, and whatever thing we may have, shall be in strengthened cities, for the treasons of the dwellers.

¹⁸We shall not turn again into our houses, till the sons of Israel wield their heritage;

¹⁹and we shall not ask anything over Jordan, for we have now our possession in the east coast thereof.

²⁰To whom Moses said, If ye do that, that ye promise, be ye made ready, and go ye to battle before the Lord;

²¹and each fighting man be armed, and pass he over Jordan, till the Lord destroy his enemies,

²²and all the land be made subject to him; then ye shall be made guilt-less with God, and with Israel, and ye shall wield the countries, which ye will or desire, before the Lord.

²³But if ye do not that, that ye say, it is no doubt to any man, that not ye sin against God; and know ye, that your sin shall take you.

²⁴Therefore build ye cities to your little children, and folds, and stables to your sheep, and to beasts; and ful fill ye that, that ye have promised.

²⁵And the sons of Gad and of Reuben said to Moses, We be thy servants; we shall do that, that our lord commandeth.

²⁶We shall leave our little children, and women, and our sheep, and beasts, in the cities of Gilead;

²⁷forsooth all we thy servants shall go ready to battle, as thou, lord, speakest.

²⁸Therefore Moses commanded to Eleazar, the priest, and to Joshua, the son of Nun, and to the princes of the meines, by the lineages of Israel,

²⁹and he said to them, If the sons of Gad, and the sons of Reuben, go all armed with you over Jordan, to battle before the Lord, and the land be made subject to you, give ye to them Gilead into possession;

³⁰but if they will not pass with you into the land of Canaan, take they then places to dwell among you.

³¹And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben answered, As the Lord hath spoken to his servants, so we shall do;

³²we shall go armed before the Lord, into the land of Canaan, and we acknowledge, that we have taken now possession over Jordan.

³³And so Moses gave to the sons of Gad, and of Reuben, and to half the lineage of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, the realm of Sihon, king of Amorites, and the realm of Og, king of Bashan, and their lands, with their cities, by compass.

³⁴Therefore the sons of Gad builded Dibon, and Ataroth, and Aroer,

³⁵and Atroth, Shophan, and Jaazer, and Jogbehah,

³⁶and Bethnimrah, and Bethharan, strengthened cities; and folds to their beasts.

³⁷Soothly the sons of Reuben builded Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Kiriathaim,

³⁸and Nebo, and Baalmeon, when the names were turned, and they builded Shibmah; and they putted names to the cities, which they had builded.

³⁹Soothly the sons of Machir, the son of Manasseh, went into Gilead, and destroyed it, and they killed Amorites, the dwellers thereof.

⁴⁰Therefore Moses gave the land of Gilead to Machir, the son of Manasseh, the which Machir dwelled therein.

⁴¹Soothly Jair, the son of Manasseh, went, and occupied the towns thereof, which he called Havothjair, that is, the towns of Jair.

⁴²Also Nobah went, and took Kenath, with his towns, and called it, by his name, Nobah.