Study Desk

They came near to him and said, "We will build sheep pens here for the flock of our livestock and cities for our little children;

but we ourselves will become armed and ready before the Israelites until we have brought them to their place, and our little children will live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land.

Build for yourselves cities for your little children and sheep pens for your flocks; what has gone out from your mouth you will do."

Our little children, our wives, our livestock, and all of our animals will remain in the cities of Gilead,

For the tribe of the children of the Reubenites, the children of the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh took their inheritance according to the house of their families.

And your little children, who you thought shall become plunder, and your sons, who do not today know good or bad, shall themselves go there, and I will give it to them, and they shall take possession of it.

So we captured all of his cities at that time, and we destroyed each town of males and the women and the children; we did not leave behind a survivor.

And so we destroyed them just as we had done to Sihon the king of Heshbon; we destroyed utterly each town of males, the women, and the little children.

Only your wives and your little children and your livestock (I know that you have much livestock) must stay in your towns that I have given you,

"However, take care for yourself and watch your inner self closely, so that you do not forget the things that your eyes have seen, so that they do not slip from your mind all the days of your life; and you shall make them known to your children and to your grandchildren.

Remember the day that you stood before Yahweh your God at Horeb when Yahweh said to me, ‘Summon for me the people so that I can tell them my words, that they may learn to fear me all of the days they are alive on the earth and so that they may teach their children.'

"When you have had children and grandchildren and you have grown old in the land and you act corruptly and you make a divine image of the form of anything and you do evil in the eyes of Yahweh your God, thus provoking him to anger,

And you shall keep his rules and his commandments that I am commanding you today, so that it may go well for you and for your children after you, and so that you may remain a long time on the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you during all of those days."

‘You shall not bow down to them, and you shall not serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, punishing the guilt of fathers upon their children and upon the third and upon the fourth generation of those hating me,

If only they had such a mind'; that is, to fear me and to keep all my commandments at all times, so that it will go well for them and for their children forever.

so that you may revere Yahweh your God by keeping all his statutes and his commandments that I am commanding you, you and your children and grandchildren, all the days of your life and so you may live long lives.

And you shall recite them to your children, and you shall talk about them at the time of your living in your house and at the time of your going on the road and at the time of your lying down and at the time of your rising up.

And you shall realize today that it is not with your children who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of Yahweh your God—his greatness, his strong hand, and his outstretched arm,

And you shall teach them to your children by talking about them when you sit in your house and when you travel on the road and when you lie down and when you get up.

so that they may multiply your days and the days of your children on the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors to give it to them as long as heaven endures over the earth.