Numbers 32-36

New American Standard Bible

Reuben and Gad Settle in Gilead

32 Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had a ^(A)very large number of livestock. So when they saw the land of ^(B)Jazer and the land of Gilead, that ^[a]it was indeed a place suitable for livestock, ² the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and to the leaders of the congregation, saying, ³ “^(C)Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon, ⁴ the land ^(D)which the Lord ^[b]conquered before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.” ⁵ And they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as our property; do not take us across the Jordan.”

⁶ But Moses said to the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben, “Should your brothers go to war while you remain here? ^7 (E)And why are you discouraging the ^[c]sons of Israel from crossing over into the land which the Lord has given them? ⁸ This is what your fathers did when I sent them from ^(F)Kadesh-barnea to see the land. ⁹ For when they went up to ^(G)the ^[d]Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the ^[e]sons of Israel so that they did not go into the land which the Lord had given them. ¹⁰ So ^(H)the Lord’s anger burned on that day, and He swore, saying, ¹¹ ‘^(I)None of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; for they did not follow Me fully, ¹² except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun; ^(J)for they have followed the Lord fully.’ ^13 (K)So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness for forty years, until the entire generation of those who had done evil in the sight of the Lord came to an end. ¹⁴ Now behold, you have risen up in your fathers’ place, born of sinful men, to add still more to the burning ^(L)anger of the Lord against Israel. ¹⁵ For if you ^(M)turn away from following Him, He will once more leave them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all these people.”

¹⁶ Then they approached him and said, “We will build sheepfolds for our livestock here and cities for our little ones; ^17 (N)but we ourselves will be armed, hurrying ahead of the sons of Israel, until we have brought them to their place, while our little ones live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. ^18 (O)We will not return to our homes until every one of the sons of Israel has gained possession of his inheritance. ¹⁹ But we will not have an inheritance with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us ^(P)on this side of the Jordan toward the east.”

^20 (Q)So Moses said to them, “If you will do ^[f]this, if you will arm yourselves before the Lord for the war, ²¹ and all of you armed men cross over the Jordan before the Lord until He has driven His enemies out from Him, ^22 (R)and the land is subdued before the Lord, then afterward you may return and be ^[g]free of obligation toward the Lord and toward Israel, and this land shall be yours as property before the Lord. ²³ But if you do not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure that ^(S)your sin will find you out. ²⁴ Build yourselves cities for your little ones, and sheepfolds for your sheep, and ^(T)do ^[h]what you have promised.”

²⁵ Then the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, “Your servants will do just as my lord commands. ^26 (U)Our little ones, our wives, our livestock, and all our cattle shall ^[i]remain there in the cities of Gilead, ²⁷ while your servants, that is, everyone who is armed for war, ^(V)cross over in the presence of the Lord to battle, just as my lord says.”

²⁸ So Moses gave the command regarding them to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers’ households of the tribes of the sons of Israel. ²⁹ And Moses said to them, “If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben, everyone who is armed for battle, cross with you over the Jordan in the presence of the Lord, and the land is subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead as their property; ³⁰ but if they do not cross over with you armed, they shall instead be settled among you in the land of Canaan.” ³¹ And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben answered, saying, “As the Lord has said to your servants, so we will do. ³² We ourselves will cross over armed in the presence of the Lord into the land of Canaan, and the property of our inheritance shall remain with us across the Jordan.”

^33 (W)So Moses gave to them, to the sons of Gad, the sons of Reuben, and to the half-tribe of Joseph’s son Manasseh, the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og, the king of Bashan, the land with its cities with their ^[j]territories, the cities of the surrounding land. ³⁴ And the sons of Gad built Dibon, Ataroth, ^(X)Aroer, ³⁵ Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, ^36 (Y)Beth-nimrah, and Beth-haran as fortified cities, and sheepfolds for sheep. ³⁷ The sons of Reuben built Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim, ^38 (Z)Nebo, and Baal-meon—their names being changed—and Sibmah, and they gave other names to the cities which they built. ³⁹ The sons of ^(AA)Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead and took it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it. ⁴⁰ So Moses gave ^(AB)Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh, and he lived in it. ⁴¹ Jair the son of Manasseh went and took its ^[k]towns, and called them ^[l](AC)Havvoth-jair. ⁴² Nobah went and took Kenath and its villages, and named it Nobah, after ^(AD)his own name.

Review of the Journey from Egypt to Jordan

33 These are the journeys of the sons of Israel, by which they came out of the land of Egypt by their armies, ^[m]under ^(AE)the leadership of Moses and Aaron. ² Moses recorded their starting places according to their journeys by the ^[n]command of the Lord, and these are their journeys according to their starting places. ^3 (AF)Now they journeyed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day after the Passover the sons of Israel ^(AG)started out ^[o]boldly in the sight of all the Egyptians, ⁴ while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn whom the Lord had fatally struck among them. The Lord had also executed judgments ^(AH)against their gods.

⁵ Then ^(AI)the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses and camped in Succoth. ^6 (AJ)They journeyed from Succoth and camped in Etham, which is on the edge of the wilderness. ^7 (AK)Then they journeyed from Etham and turned back to Pi-hahiroth, which faces Baal-zephon; and they camped before Migdol. ^8 (AL)They journeyed ^[p]from Pi-hahiroth and passed through the midst of the sea to the wilderness; and ^(AM)they went three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham and camped at Marah. ^9 (AN)They journeyed from Marah and came to Elim; and in Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there. ¹⁰ They journeyed from Elim and camped by the ^[q]Red Sea. ¹¹ And they journeyed from the ^[r]Red Sea and camped in ^(AO)the wilderness of Sin. ¹² They journeyed from the wilderness of Sin and camped at Dophkah. ¹³ They journeyed from Dophkah and camped at Alush. ¹⁴ And they journeyed from Alush and camped ^(AP)at Rephidim; now it was there that the people had no water to drink. ¹⁵ And they journeyed from Rephidim and camped in ^(AQ)the wilderness of Sinai. ¹⁶ They journeyed from the wilderness of Sinai, and camped at ^(AR)Kibroth-hattaavah.

¹⁷ They journeyed from Kibroth-hattaavah and camped at ^(AS)Hazeroth. ¹⁸ They journeyed from Hazeroth and camped at Rithmah. ¹⁹ They journeyed from Rithmah and camped at Rimmon-perez. ²⁰ They journeyed from Rimmon-perez and camped at ^(AT)Libnah. ²¹ They journeyed from Libnah and camped at Rissah. ²² They journeyed from Rissah and camped in Kehelathah. ²³ They journeyed from Kehelathah and camped at Mount Shepher. ²⁴ They journeyed from Mount Shepher and camped at Haradah. ²⁵ They journeyed from Haradah and camped at Makheloth. ²⁶ They journeyed from Makheloth and camped at Tahath. ²⁷ They journeyed from Tahath and camped at Terah. ²⁸ They journeyed from Terah and camped at Mithkah. ²⁹ They journeyed from Mithkah and camped at Hashmonah. ³⁰ They journeyed from Hashmonah and camped at ^(AU)Moseroth. ³¹ They journeyed from Moseroth and camped at Bene-jaakan. ³² They journeyed from ^(AV)Bene-jaakan and camped at Hor-haggidgad. ³³ They journeyed from Hor-haggidgad and camped at ^(AW)Jotbathah. ³⁴ They journeyed from Jotbathah and camped at Abronah. ³⁵ They journeyed from Abronah and camped at ^(AX)Ezion-geber. ³⁶ They journeyed from Ezion-geber and camped in the wilderness of ^(AY)Zin, that is, Kadesh. ³⁷ They journeyed from Kadesh and camped at ^(AZ)Mount Hor, ^(BA)at the edge of the land of Edom.

^38 (BB)Then Aaron the priest went up to Mount Hor at the ^[s]command of the Lord, and died there in the fortieth year after the sons of Israel had come from the land of Egypt, on the first day in the fifth month. ³⁹ Aaron was 123 years old when he died on Mount Hor.

⁴⁰ Now the Canaanite, the king of ^(BC)Arad ^[t]who lived in the ^[u]Negev in the land of Canaan, heard about the coming of the sons of Israel.

⁴¹ Then they journeyed from Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah. ⁴² They journeyed from Zalmonah and camped at Punon. ⁴³ They journeyed from Punon and camped at ^(BD)Oboth. ⁴⁴ They journeyed from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, at the border of Moab. ⁴⁵ They journeyed from Iyim and camped at Dibon-gad. ⁴⁶ They journeyed from Dibon-gad and camped at Almon-diblathaim. ⁴⁷ They journeyed from Almon-diblathaim and camped in the mountains of ^(BE)Abarim, before Nebo. ⁴⁸ They journeyed from the mountains of Abarim and ^(BF)camped in the plains of Moab, by the Jordan opposite Jericho. ⁴⁹ They camped by the Jordan, from Beth-jeshimoth as far as ^(BG)Abel-shittim, in the plains of Moab.

Law for Possessing the Land

⁵⁰ Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying, ⁵¹ “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘^(BH)When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ⁵² you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from you, and ^(BI)destroy all their idolatrous sculptures, destroy all their cast metal images, and eliminate all their high places; ^53 (BJ)and you shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it. ^54 (BK)You shall maintain the land as an inheritance by lot according to your families; to the larger you shall give more inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give less inheritance. Wherever the lot falls to anyone, that shall be his. You shall pass on land as an inheritance according to the tribes of your fathers. ⁵⁵ But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from you, then it will come about that those whom you let remain of them will be ^(BL)like thorns in your eyes and like pricks in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land in which you live. ⁵⁶ And just as I plan to do to them, I will do to you.’”

Instruction for Apportioning Canaan

34 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Command the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter ^(BM)the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you as an inheritance, that is, the land of Canaan according to its borders. ^3 (BN)Your southern region shall ^[v]extend from the wilderness of Zin along the side of Edom, and your southern border shall ^[w]extend from the end of the Salt Sea ^(BO)eastward. ⁴ Then your border shall change direction from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim and ^[x]continue to Zin, and its ^[y]termination shall be to the south of ^(BP)Kadesh-barnea; and it shall ^[z]reach Hazaraddar and ^[aa]continue to Azmon. ⁵ Then the border shall change direction from Azmon to the brook of Egypt, and its termination shall be at ^(BQ)the sea.

⁶ ‘As for the western border, you shall have the Great Sea, that is, its ^[ab]coastline; this shall be your western border.

⁷ ‘^(BR)And this shall be your northern border: you shall draw your boundary from the Great Sea to Mount Hor. ⁸ You shall draw a boundary from Mount Hor to ^(BS)the ^[ac]Lebo-hamath, and the termination of the border shall be at Zedad; ⁹ and the border shall proceed to Ziphron, and its termination shall be at Hazar-enan. This shall be your northern border.

¹⁰ ‘For your eastern border you shall also draw a boundary from Hazar-enan to Shepham, ¹¹ and the border shall go down from Shepham to ^(BT)Riblah on the east side of Ain; and the border shall go down and reach to the slope on the east side of the Sea of ^(BU)Chinnereth. ¹² And the border shall go down to the Jordan, and its termination shall be at the Salt Sea. This shall be your land according to its borders on all sides.’”

¹³ So Moses commanded the sons of Israel, saying, “^(BV)This is the land that you are to possess by lot, which the Lord has commanded to give to the nine and a half tribes. ^14 (BW)For the tribe of the sons of Reuben have received theirs according to their fathers’ households, and the tribe of the sons of Gad according to their fathers’ households, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their possession. ¹⁵ The two and a half tribes have received their possession across the Jordan opposite Jericho, eastward toward the sunrise.”

¹⁶ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷ “^(BX)These are the names of the men who shall assign the land to you as an inheritance: Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun. ¹⁸ And you shall take one leader of each tribe to assign the land as an inheritance. ¹⁹ These are the names of the men: of the tribe of ^(BY)Judah, ^(BZ)Caleb the son of Jephunneh. ²⁰ Of the tribe of the sons of ^(CA)Simeon, Samuel the son of Ammihud. ²¹ Of the tribe of ^(CB)Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon. ²² And of the tribe of the sons of Dan, a leader, Bukki the son of Jogli. ²³ Of the sons of Joseph: of the tribe of the sons of Manasseh, a leader, Hanniel the son of Ephod. ²⁴ Of the tribe of the sons of Ephraim, a leader, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan. ²⁵ Of the tribe of the sons of Zebulun, a leader, Elizaphan the son of Parnach. ²⁶ Of the tribe of the sons of Issachar, a leader, Paltiel the son of Azzan. ²⁷ Of the tribe of the sons of Asher, a leader, Ahihud the son of Shelomi. ²⁸ Of the tribe of the sons of Naphtali, a leader, Pedahel the son of Ammihud.” ²⁹ These are the ones whom the Lord commanded to apportion the inheritance to the sons of Israel in the land of Canaan.

Cities for the Levites

35 ^(CC)Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab, by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying, ² “Command the sons of Israel that they give to the Levites from the inheritance of their possession cities to live in; and you shall give to the Levites pasture lands around the cities. ³ The cities shall be theirs to live in; and their pasture lands shall be for their cattle and for their equipment and for all their other animals.

⁴ “The pasture lands of the cities which you are to give to the Levites shall extend from the wall of the city ^[ad]outward a thousand cubits around. ⁵ You shall also measure outside the city on the east side two thousand cubits, on the south side two thousand cubits, on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits, with the city in the center. This shall become theirs as pasture lands for the cities.

Cities of Refuge

⁶ The cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be the ^(CD)six cities of refuge, which you shall provide for the one who commits manslaughter to flee to; and in addition to them you shall give forty-two cities. ⁷ The total number of the cities which you are to give to the Levites shall be ^(CE)forty-eight cities, ^[ae]together with their pasture lands. ^8 (CF)As for the cities which you shall give them from the possession of the sons of Israel, you shall take more from the larger, and you shall take fewer from the smaller; each shall give some of his cities to the Levites in proportion to his inheritance which he possesses.”

⁹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰ “^(CG)Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ^11 (CH)then you shall select for yourselves cities to be your ^(CI)cities of refuge, so that the one who commits manslaughter by ^[af]killing a person ^(CJ)unintentionally may flee there. ^12 (CK)The cities shall ^[ag]serve you as a refuge from the avenger, so that the one who commits manslaughter does not die until he stands before the congregation for ^[ah]trial. ¹³ So the cities which you are to provide shall be six cities of refuge for you. ¹⁴ You ^(CL)shall provide three cities across the Jordan, and three cities ^[ai]in the land of Canaan; they are to be cities of refuge. ¹⁵ These six cities shall be a refuge for the sons of Israel, for the stranger, and for the foreign resident among them; so that anyone who ^[aj]kills a person ^(CM)unintentionally may flee there.

¹⁶ ‘^(CN)But if he struck him with an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death. ¹⁷ And if he struck him with a stone in the hand, by which he would die, and as a result he did die, he is a murderer; the murderer ^(CO)must be put to death. ¹⁸ Or if he struck him with a wooden object in the hand, by which he would die, and as a result he did die, he is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death. ¹⁹ The blood avenger himself shall put the murderer to death; he himself shall put him to death when he meets him. ²⁰ Now ^(CP)if he pushed him in hatred, or he threw something at him ^[ak](CQ)with malicious intent, and as a result he died, ²¹ or if he struck him with his hand with hostility, and as a result he died, the one who struck him must be put to death; he is a murderer. The blood avenger shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.

²² ‘^(CR)But if he pushed him suddenly, without hostility, or threw any object at him without ^[al]malicious intent, ²³ or had any ^[am]deadly stone, and without looking he dropped it on him so that he died, while he was not his enemy nor was he seeking ^[an]to harm him, ²⁴ then ^(CS)the congregation shall judge between the one who fatally struck the victim and the blood avenger in accordance with these ordinances. ²⁵ And the congregation shall save the one who committed manslaughter from the hand of the blood avenger, and the congregation shall return him to his city of refuge to which he fled; and he shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil. ²⁶ But if at any time ^[ao]he goes beyond the border of his city of refuge to which he flees, ²⁷ and the blood avenger finds him outside the border of his city of refuge, and the blood avenger kills ^[ap]him, he ^[aq]will not be guilty of bloodshed, ²⁸ because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the one who committed manslaughter may return to the land of his property.

²⁹ ‘These things shall be a ^(CT)statutory ordinance for you throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.

³⁰ ‘^(CU)If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the ^[ar]testimony of witnesses, but ^(CV)no person shall be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. ³¹ Moreover, you shall not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who is ^[as]condemned to death, but he must be put to death. ³² And you shall not accept a ransom for one who has fled to his city of refuge, so that he may return to live in the land ^[at]before the death of the priest. ^33 (CW)So you shall not defile the land in which you live; for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except ^(CX)by the blood of the one who shed it. ³⁴ So you shall not ^(CY)defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which ^(CZ)I dwell; for I the Lord am dwelling in the midst of the sons of Israel.’”

Inheritance by Marriage

36 ^(DA)Now the heads of the fathers’ households of the family of the sons of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came forward and spoke before Moses and before the leaders, the heads of the fathers’ households of the sons of Israel, ² and they said, “The Lord commanded my lord to give the land by lot to the sons of Israel as an inheritance, and my lord ^(DB)was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. ³ But if they ^[au]marry one of the sons of the other tribes of the sons of Israel, their inheritance will be withdrawn from the inheritance of our fathers and will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; so it will be withdrawn from our allotted inheritance. ⁴ And when the ^(DC)jubilee of the sons of Israel takes place, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; so their inheritance will be withdrawn from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.”

⁵ Then Moses commanded the sons of Israel in accordance with the ^[av]word of the Lord, saying, “The tribe of the sons of Joseph is right in its statements. ^6 (DD)This is ^[aw]what the Lord has commanded regarding the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, ‘Let them marry ^[ax]whomever they wish; only they must marry within the family of the tribe of their father.’ ⁷ So ^(DE)no inheritance of the sons of Israel will ^[ay]be transferred from tribe to tribe, for the sons of Israel shall each ^[az]retain possession of the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. ^8 (DF)And every daughter who comes into possession of an inheritance of any tribe of the sons of Israel shall marry one of the family of the tribe of her father, so that the sons of Israel may each possess the inheritance of his fathers. ⁹ So no inheritance will ^[ba]be transferred from one tribe to another tribe, for the tribes of the sons of Israel shall each ^[bb]retain possession of its own inheritance.”

¹⁰ Just as the Lord had commanded Moses, so the daughters of Zelophehad did: ^11 (DG)Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad married their uncles’ sons. ¹² They married those from the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance ^[bc]remained with the tribe of the family of their father.

^13 (DH)These are the commandments and the ordinances which the Lord commanded to the sons of Israel through Moses in the plains of Moab, by the Jordan opposite Jericho.