Reuben and Gad Present a Proposal^(A)

32 Now, the descendants of Reuben and descendants of Gad happened to be joint owners of a very large herd of cattle. When they observed that Jazer and Gilead were good grazing lands^[a] for cattle, ² the descendants of Gad and descendants of Reuben approached Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the community and said, ³ “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon— ⁴ the land that the Lord defeated in the sight of the community of Israel—is perfect for cattle and your servants have cattle. ⁵ If we’ve found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as our possession instead of us crossing the Jordan River.”^[b]

⁶ “Will your relatives have to go to war while you remain here?” Moses asked the descendants of Gad and descendants of Reuben in response. ⁷ “Why would you discourage^[c] the Israelis from crossing over to the land that the Lord has given them? ⁸ That’s what^[d] your ancestors did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to explore^[e] the land. ⁹ When they arrived in the Eshcol Valley and saw the land, they discouraged^[f] the Israelis from entering the land that the Lord had given them. ¹⁰ That’s why the Lord’s anger flared up that day and he promised by an oath that ¹¹ ‘Not one of the men who went up from Egypt, from 20 years old and above, will see the land that I promised to give to their ancestors, that is, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because none of them followed me wholeheartedly,^{[g] 12} except Jephunneh’s son Caleb, the Kenizzite, and Nun’s son Joshua. They’ve wholeheartedly followed the Lord.’

¹³ “The Lord’s anger had flared up against Israel so that he made them wander in the wilderness for 40 years until that whole generation, who committed evil in the eyes of the Lord, had died. ¹⁴ And now, look! You’re acting just like^[h] your ancestors, like a brood^[i] of sinful men, who are provoking the fierce anger of the Lord against the Israelis one step at a time. ¹⁵ If you stop following him, he will once again abandon them in the wilderness. You’ll end up destroying this entire people.”