1. Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of livestock. When they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that behold, the place was a place for livestock;

2. the 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,

3. "Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon,

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

5. They said, "If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession. Don't bring us over the Jordan."

6. Moses said to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, "Shall your brothers go to the war, and shall you sit here?

7. Why do you discourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the LORD has given them?

8. Your fathers did so when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land.

9. For 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.

10. The LORD's anger burned in that day, and he swore, saying,

11. 'Surely none of the men who came up out of 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,

12. except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun; because they have followed the LORD completely.'

13. The LORD's anger burned against Israel, and he made them wander back and forth in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, who had done evil in The LORD's sight, was consumed.

14. "Behold, you have risen up in your fathers' place, an increase of sinful men, to increase the fierce anger of the LORD toward Israel.

15. For if you turn away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and you will destroy all these people."

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

17. but we ourselves will be ready armed to go before the children of Israel, until we have brought them to their place. Our little ones shall dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land.

18. We will not return to our houses, until the children of Israel have each inherited their inheritance.

19. For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan, and forward; because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan eastward."

20. Moses said to them, "If you will do this thing, if you will arm yourselves to go before the LORD to the war,

21. and every armed man of you will pass over the Jordan before The LORD, until he has driven out his enemies from before him,

22. and the land is subdued before The LORD; then afterward you shall return, and be guiltless towards The LORD, and towards Israel; and this land shall be to you for a possession before The LORD.

23. "But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against The LORD; and be sure your sin will find you out.

24. Build cities for your little ones, and folds for your sheep; and do that which has proceeded out of your mouth."

25. The children of Gad and the children of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, "Your servants will do as my lord commands.

26. Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our livestock, shall be there in the cities of Gilead;

27. but your servants will pass over, every man who is armed for war, before the LORD to battle, as my lord says."

28. So Moses commanded concerning them to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers' households of the tribes of the children of Israel.

29. Moses said to them, "If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will pass with you over the Jordan, every man who is armed to battle, before The LORD, and the land is subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession;

30. but if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan."

31. The children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying, "As the LORD has said to your servants, so will we do.

32. We will pass over armed before the LORD into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us beyond the Jordan."

33. Moses gave to them, even to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land, according to its cities and borders, even the cities of the surrounding land.

34. The children of Gad built Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer,

35. Atrothshophan, Jazer, Jogbehah,

36. Beth Nimrah, and Beth Haran: fortified cities, and folds for sheep.

37. The children of Reuben built Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim,

38. Nebo, and Baal Meon, (their names being changed), and Sibmah. They gave other names to the cities which they built.

39. The children of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead, took it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were therein.

40. Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh; and he lived therein.

41. Jair the son of Manasseh went and took its villages, and called them Havvoth Jair.

42. Nobah went and took Kenath, and its villages, and called it Nobah, after his own name.

1. Now this is the history of the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that the LORD spoke with Moses in Mount Sinai.

2. These are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

3. These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests who were anointed, whom he consecrated to minister in the priest's office.

4. Nadab and Abihu died before The LORD, when they offered strange fire before The LORD, in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children. Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest's office in the presence of Aaron their father.

5. The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

6. "Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him.

7. They shall keep his requirements, and the requirements of the whole congregation before the Tent of Meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle.

8. They shall keep all the furnishings of the Tent of Meeting, and the obligations of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle.

9. You shall give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons. They are wholly given to him on the behalf of the children of Israel.

10. You shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall keep their priesthood. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death."

11. The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

12. "Behold , I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn who open the womb among the children of Israel; and the Levites shall be mine:

13. for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I made holy to me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and animal. They shall be mine. I am The LORD."

14. The LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying,

15. "Count the children of Levi by their fathers' houses, by their families. You shall count every male from a month old and upward."

16. Moses counted them according to The LORD's word, as he was commanded.

17. These were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari.

18. These are the names of the sons of Gershon by their families: Libni and Shimei.

19. The sons of Kohath by their families: Amram, and Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

20. The sons of Merari by their families: Mahli and Mushi.These are the families of the Levites according to their fathers' houses.

15. Moses gave to the tribe of the children of Reuben according to their families.

16. Their border was from Aroer, that is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the middle of the valley, and all the plain by Medeba;

17. Heshbon, and all its cities that are in the plain; Dibon, Bamoth Baal, Beth Baal Meon,

18. Jahaz, Kedemoth, Mephaath,

19. Kiriathaim, Sibmah, Zereth Shahar in the mount of the valley,

20. Beth Peor, the slopes of Pisgah, Beth Jeshimoth,

21. all the cities of the plain, and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses struck with the chiefs of Midian, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the princes of Sihon, who lived in the land.

22. The children of Israel also killed Balaam the son of Beor, the soothsayer, with the sword, among the rest of their slain.

23. The border of the children of Reuben was the bank of the Jordan. This was the inheritance of the children of Reuben according to their families, the cities and its villages.

However, the Levites have no portion among you; for the priesthood of the LORD is their inheritance. Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance east of the Jordan, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave them."