Study Desk

"So we have brought as an offering to the LORD what each man found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces, to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD."

The men of war had taken booty, every man for himself.

So Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it to the tent of meeting as a memorial for the sons of Israel before the LORD.

Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had an exceedingly large number of livestock. So when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, that it was indeed a place suitable for livestock,

the land which the LORD conquered before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock."

"For when they went up to the valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the sons of Israel so that they did not go into the land which the LORD had given them.

'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,

except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have followed the LORD fully.'

"For if you turn away from following Him, He will once more abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all these people."

Then they came near to him and said, "We will build here sheepfolds for our livestock and cities for our little ones;

"For we will not have an inheritance with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has fallen to us on this side of the Jordan toward the east."

So Moses said to them, "If you will do this, if you will arm yourselves before the LORD for the war,

and the land is subdued before the LORD, then afterward you shall return and be free of obligation toward the LORD and toward Israel, and this land shall be yours for a possession before the LORD.

"Build yourselves cities for your little ones, and sheepfolds for your sheep, and do what you have promised."

while your servants, everyone who is armed for war, will cross over in the presence of the LORD to battle, just as my lord says."

Moses said to them, "If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben, everyone who is armed for battle, will 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 for a possession;

and Beth-nimrah and Beth-haran as fortified cities, and sheepfolds for sheep.

and you shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it.

'As for the western border, you shall have the Great Sea, that is, its coastline; this shall be your west border.

'For your eastern border you shall also draw a line from Hazar-enan to Shepham,