The children of Reuben and the children of Gad owned a very great multitude of cattle. When they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, they recognized it as a place for livestock. They came to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the princes of the congregation and made their request: let this land be given to them as a possession, and do not make them cross the Jordan.
Moses answered with a sharp question. Shall your brothers go to war while you sit here? He accused them of discouraging the hearts of the children of Israel from entering the land the Lord had given them. He reminded them of what their fathers had done at Kadesh-barnea, when the spies went up to the valley of Eshcol and saw the land, then discouraged the people from going in. The Lord’s anger was kindled that day, and he swore that none of the men from twenty years old and upward who came out of Egypt would see the land he swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, because they had wholly followed the Lord. The Lord made Israel wander in the wilderness forty years until that evil generation was consumed.
Moses pressed the charge further. You have risen up in your fathers’ place, an increase of sinful men, to augment the fierce anger of the Lord toward Israel. If you turn away from following him, he will again leave the people in the wilderness, and you will destroy all this people.
The men of Gad and Reuben came near to Moses and offered a different plan. They would build sheepfolds for their cattle and cities for their little ones. But they themselves would be ready armed to go before the children of Israel until they had brought them to their place. Their little ones would dwell in fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. They would not return to their houses until every man of Israel had inherited his inheritance. They would not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan, because their inheritance had fallen to them on this side eastward.
Moses accepted the terms on a condition. If they armed themselves to go before the Lord to war, and every armed man passed over the Jordan before the Lord until he had driven out his enemies and the land was subdued before the Lord, then afterward they could return and be guiltless toward the Lord and toward Israel, and this land would be their possession before the Lord. But if they did not do so, they had sinned against the Lord, and their sin would find them out.
The children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered that they would do as Moses commanded. Their little ones, wives, flocks, and all their cattle would remain in the cities of Gilead, but every man armed for war would pass over before the Lord to battle.
Moses gave charge concerning them to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of Israel. He told them that if the armed men of Gad and Reuben passed over the Jordan before the Lord to battle and the land was subdued before them, then they should give them the land of Gilead for a possession. But if they did not pass over armed, they would receive possessions among the other tribes in the land of Canaan.
The men of Gad and Reuben answered that they would do as the Lord had said. They would pass over armed before the Lord into the land of Canaan, and the possession of their inheritance would remain with them beyond the Jordan.
Moses then gave to the children of Gad, the children of Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan—the land according to its cities and borders, the cities of the land round about.
The children of Gad built Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, Beth-nimrah, and Beth-haran—fortified cities and folds for sheep. The children of Reuben built Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim, Nebo, Baal-meon (their names being changed), and Sibmah. They gave other names to the cities they built.
The children of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead, took it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were there. Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh, and he dwelt there. Jair the son of Manasseh went and took the towns of Gilead and called them Havvoth-jair. Nobah went and took Kenath and its villages and called it Nobah, after his own name.