¹⁶ Then they came near to him and said, ^(A)“We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones, ¹⁷ but ^(B)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. ^18 (C)We will not return to our homes until each of the people of Israel has gained his inheritance. ¹⁹ For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, ^(D)because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan to the east.”

¹² And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh Joshua said, ¹³ “Remember the word that ^(A)Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, ‘The Lord your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.’ ¹⁴ Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but all the men of valor among you shall pass over armed before your brothers and shall help them, ^15 (B)until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving them. ^(C)Then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall possess it, the land that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.”

¹⁶ And they answered Joshua, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. ¹⁷ Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God ^(D)be with you, as he was with Moses! ¹⁸ Whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him, shall be put to death. ^(E)Only be strong and courageous.”

The Eastern Tribes Return Home

22 At that time Joshua summoned the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, ² and said to them, “You have kept ^(A)all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you ^(B)and have obeyed my voice in all that I have commanded you. ³ You have not forsaken your brothers these many days, down to this day, but have been careful to keep the charge of the Lord your God. ^4 (C)And now the Lord your God has given rest to your brothers, as he promised them. Therefore turn and go to your tents in the land where your possession lies, ^(D)which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan. ^5 (E)Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, ^(F)to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” ⁶ So Joshua ^(G)blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents.

⁷ Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given a possession in Bashan, ^(H)but to the other half Joshua had given a possession beside their brothers in the land west of the Jordan. And when Joshua sent them away to their homes and blessed them, ⁸ he said to them, “Go back to your tents with much wealth and with very much livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and with much clothing. ^(I)Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers.” ⁹ So the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned home, parting from the people of Israel at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go ^(J)to the land of Gilead, their own land of which they had possessed themselves by command of the Lord through Moses.