Passage: Numbers 32, 33 (RSV)


Numbers 32


1Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle; and they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and behold, the place was a place for cattle.
2So the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben came and said to Moses and to Elea'zar the priest and to the leaders of the congregation,
3"At'aroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elea'leh, Sebam, Nebo, and Be'on,
4the land which the LORD smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle; and your servants have cattle."
5And they said, "If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession; do not take us across the Jordan."
6But Moses said to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben, "Shall your brethren go to the war while you sit here?
7Why will you discourage the heart of the people of Israel from going over into the land which the LORD has given them?
8Thus did your fathers, when I sent them from Ka'desh-bar'nea to see the land.
9For when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the people of Israel from going into the land which the LORD had given them.
10And the LORD's anger was kindled on that day, and he swore, saying,
11`Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not wholly followed me;
12none except Caleb the son of Jephun'neh the Ken'izzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the LORD.'
13And 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.
14And behold, you have risen in your fathers' stead, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more the fierce anger of the LORD against Israel!
15For if you turn away from following him, he will again abandon them in the wilderness; and you will destroy all this people."
16Then they came near to him, and said, "We will build sheepfolds here for our flocks, and cities for our little ones,
17but we will take up arms, ready to go before the people of Israel, until we have brought them to their place; and our little ones shall live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land.
18We will not return to our homes until the people of Israel have inherited each his inheritance.
19For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond; because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan to the east."
20So Moses said to them, "If you will do this, if you will take up arms to go before the LORD for the war,
21and every armed man of you will pass over the Jordan before the LORD, until he has driven out his enemies from before him
22and the land is subdued before the LORD; then after that you shall return and be free of obligation to the LORD and to Israel; and this land shall be your possession before the LORD.
23But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD; and be sure your sin will find you out.
24Build cities for your little ones, and folds for your sheep; and do what you have promised."
25And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben said to Moses, "Your servants will do as my lord commands.
26Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our cattle, shall remain there in the cities of Gilead;
27but your servants will pass over, every man who is armed for war, before the LORD to battle, as my lord orders."
28So Moses gave command concerning them to Elea'zar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the people of Israel.
29And Moses said to them, "If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben, every man who is armed to battle before the LORD, will pass with you over the Jordan and the land shall be subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession;
30but if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan."
31And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben answered, "As the LORD has said to your servants, so we will do.
32We will pass over armed before the LORD into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us beyond the Jordan."
33And Moses gave to them, to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben and to the half-tribe of Manas'seh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land and its cities with their territories, the cities of the land throughout the country.
34And the sons of Gad built Dibon, At'aroth, Aro'er,
35At'roth-sho'phan, Jazer, Jog'behah,
36Beth-nim'rah and Beth-har'an, fortified cities, and folds for sheep.
37And the sons of Reuben built Heshbon, Elea'leh, Kiriatha'im,
38Nebo, and Ba'al-me'on (their names to be changed), and Sibmah; and they gave other names to the cities which they built.
39And the sons of Machir the son of Manas'seh went to Gilead and took it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it.
40And Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manas'seh, and he settled in it.
41And Ja'ir the son of Manas'seh went and took their villages, and called them Hav'voth-ja'ir.
42And Nobah went and took Kenath and its villages, and called it Nobah, after his own name.

Numbers 33


1These are the stages of the people of Israel, when they went forth out of the land of Egypt by their hosts under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.
2Moses wrote down their starting places, stage by stage, by command of the LORD; and these are their stages according to their starting places.
3They set out from Ram'eses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day after the passover the people of Israel went out triumphantly in the sight of all the Egyptians,
4while the Egyptians were burying all their first-born, whom the LORD had struck down among them; upon their gods also the LORD executed judgments.
5So the people of Israel set out from Ram'eses, and encamped at Succoth.
6And they set out from Succoth, and encamped at Etham, which is on the edge of the wilderness.
7And they set out from Etham, and turned back to Pi-hahi'roth, which is east of Ba'al-ze'phon; and they encamped before Migdol.
8And they set out from before Hahi'roth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and they went a three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, and encamped at Marah.
9And they set out from Marah, and came to Elim; at Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there.
10And they set out from Elim, and encamped by the Red Sea.
11And they set out from the Red Sea, and encamped in the wilderness of Sin.
12And they set out from the wilderness of Sin, and encamped at Dophkah.
13And they set out from Dophkah, and encamped at Alush.
14And they set out from Alush, and encamped at Reph'idim, where there was no water for the people to drink.
15And they set out from Reph'idim, and encamped in the wilderness of Sinai.
16And they set out from the wilderness of Sinai, and encamped at Kib'roth-hatta'avah.
17And they set out from Kib'roth-hatta'avah, and encamped at Haze'roth.
18And they set out from Haze'roth, and encamped at Rithmah.
19And they set out from Rithmah, and encamped at Rim'mon-per'ez.
20And they set out from Rim'mon-per'ez, and encamped at Libnah.
21And they set out from Libnah, and encamped at Rissah.
22And they set out from Rissah, and encamped at Kehela'thah.
23And they set out from Kehela'thah, and encamped at Mount Shepher.
24And they set out from Mount Shepher, and encamped at Hara'dah.
25And they set out from Hara'dah, and encamped at Makhe'loth.
26And they set out from Makhe'loth, and encamped at Tahath.
27And they set out from Tahath, and encamped at Terah.
28And they set out from Terah, and encamped at Mithkah.
29And they set out from Mithkah, and encamped at Hashmo'nah.
30And they set out from Hashmo'nah, and encamped at Mose'roth.
31And they set out from Mose'roth, and encamped at Bene-ja'akan.
32And they set out from Bene-ja'akan, and encamped at Hor-haggid'gad.
33And they set out from Hor-haggid'gad, and encamped at Jot'bathah.
34And they set out from Jot'bathah, and encamped at Abro'nah.
35And they set out from Abro'nah, and encamped at E'zion-ge'ber.
36And they set out from E'zion-ge'ber, and encamped in the wilderness of Zin (that is, Kadesh).
37And they set out from Kadesh, and encamped at Mount Hor, on the edge of the land of Edom.
38And Aaron the priest went up Mount Hor at the command of the LORD, and died there, in the fortieth year after the people of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, on the first day of the fifth month.
39And Aaron was a hundred and twenty-three years old when he died on Mount Hor.
40And the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who dwelt in the Negeb in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the people of Israel.
41And they set out from Mount Hor, and encamped at Zalmo'nah.
42And they set out from Zalmo'nah, and encamped at Punon.
43And they set out from Punon, and encamped at Oboth.
44And they set out from Oboth, and encamped at I'ye-ab'arim, in the territory of Moab.
45And they set out from I'yim, and encamped at Dibon-gad.
46And they set out from Dibon-gad, and encamped at Al'mon-diblatha'im.
47And they set out from Al'mon-diblatha'im, and encamped in the mountains of Ab'arim, before Nebo.
48And they set out from the mountains of Ab'arim, and encamped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho;
49they encamped by the Jordan from Beth-jes'himoth as far as Abel-shittim in the plains of Moab.
50And the LORD said to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho,
51"Say to the people of Israel, When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
52then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places;
53and you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it.
54You shall inherit the land by lot according to your families; to a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance; wherever the lot falls to any man, that shall be his; according to the tribes of your fathers you shall inherit.
55But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell.
56And I will do to you as I thought to do to them."



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