Numbers 32:1-19

1Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle: and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place was a place for cattle; 2The children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the princes of the congregation, saying, 3Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Shebam, and Nebo, and Beon,123 4Even the country which the LORD smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle, and thy servants have cattle: 5Therefore, said they, if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given to thy servants for a possession, and bring us not over Jordan. 6And Moses said to the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here? 7And why discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the LORD hath given them?4 8Thus did your fathers, when I sent them from Kadeshbarnea to see the land. 9For when they went up to the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the LORD had given them. 10And the LORD’S anger was kindled the same time, and he swore, saying, 11Surely none of the men that came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me:5 12Except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: for they have wholly followed the LORD. 13And the LORD’S anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the LORD, was consumed. 14And, behold, ye have risen up in your fathers’ stead, an increase of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of the LORD toward Israel. 15For if ye turn away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and he shall destroy all this people.

16And they came near to him, and said, We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones: 17But we ourselves will go ready armed before the children of Israel, until we have brought them to their place: and our little ones shall dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. 18We will not return to our houses, until the children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance. 19For we will not inherit with them on the other side of Jordan, or beyond; because our inheritance hath fallen to us on this side of Jordan eastward.