Build towns for your little ones, and folds for your flocks; but do what you have promised.”
25 Then the Gadites and the Reubenites said to Moses, “Your servants will do as my lord commands.
Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our livestock shall remain there in the towns of Gilead;
but your servants will cross over, everyone armed for war, to do battle for the LORD, just as my lord orders.”
For reflection: Numbers 32:23
A serious attempt to repent and really to know one’s own sins is in the long run a lightening and relieving process.
—from “‘Miserable Offenders,’” God in the Dock
28 So Moses gave command concerning them to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua son of Nun, and to the heads of the ancestral houses of the Israelite tribes.
And Moses said to them, “If the Gadites and the Reubenites, everyone armed for battle before the LORD, will cross over the Jordan with you and the land shall be subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession;
but if they will not cross over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.”
The Gadites and the Reubenites answered, “As the LORD has spoken to your servants, so we will do.
We will cross over armed before the LORD into the land of Canaan, but the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us on this side of[79 (#ulink_c1e74ba9-58dc-54b1-938e-7b681b2fec98)] the Jordan.”
33 Moses gave to them—to the Gadites and to the Reubenites and to the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph—the kingdom of King Sihon of the Amorites and the kingdom of King Og of Bashan, the land and its towns, with the territories of the surrounding towns.
And the Gadites rebuilt Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer,
Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah,
Beth-nimrah, and Beth-haran, fortified cities, and folds for sheep.
And the Reubenites rebuilt Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim,
Nebo, and Baal-meon (some names being changed), and Sibmah; and they gave names to the towns that they rebuilt.
The descendants of Machir son of Manasseh went to Gilead, captured it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were there;
so Moses gave Gilead to Machir son of Manasseh, and he settled there.
Jair son of Manasseh went and captured their villages, and renamed them Havvoth-jair.[80 (#ulink_c23ffdd7-7638-52ca-aa20-83417b0ea083)]
And Nobah went and captured Kenath and its villages, and renamed it Nobah after himself.
33 These are the stages by which the Israelites went out of the land of Egypt in military formation under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.
Moses wrote down their starting points, stage by stage, by command of the LORD; and these are their stages according to their starting places.
They set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day after the passover the Israelites went out boldly in the sight of all the Egyptians,
while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the LORD had struck down among them. The LORD executed judgments even against their gods.
5 So the Israelites set out from Rameses, and camped at Succoth.
They set out from Succoth, and camped at Etham, which is on the edge of the wilderness.
They set out from Etham, and turned back to Pi-hahiroth, which faces Baal-zephon; and they camped before Migdol.
They set out from Pi-hahiroth, passed through the sea into the wilderness, went a three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham, and camped at Marah.
They set out from Marah and came to Elim; at Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there.
They set out from Elim and camped by the Red Sea.[81 (#ulink_42776daa-2307-531a-923f-95a118d12fac)]
They set out from the Red Sea[81 (#ulink_42776daa-2307-531a-923f-95a118d12fac)] and camped in the wilderness of Sin.
They set out from the wilderness of Sin and camped at Dophkah.
They set out from Dophkah and camped at Alush.
They set out from Alush and camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.
They set out from Rephidim and camped in the wilderness of Sinai.
They set out from the wilderness of Sinai and camped at Kibroth-hattaavah.
They set out from Kibroth-hattaavah and camped at Hazeroth.
They set out from Hazeroth and camped at Rithmah.
They set out from Rithmah and camped at Rimmon-perez.
They set out from Rimmon-perez and camped at Libnah.
They set out from Libnah and camped at Rissah.
They set out from Rissah and camped at Kehelathah.
They set out from Kehelathah and camped at Mount Shepher.
They set out from Mount Shepher and camped at Haradah.
They set out from Haradah and camped at Makheloth.
They set out from Makheloth and camped at Tahath.
They set out from Tahath and camped at Terah.
They set out from Terah and camped at Mithkah.
