Now 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;
the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spake unto Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and unto the princes of the congregation, saying,
Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and {In verse 36, Beth-nimrah.}Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, and {In verse 38, Sibmah.}Sebam, and Nebo, and {In verse 28, Baal-meon.}Beon,
the land which Jehovah smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle; and thy servants have cattle.
And they said, If we have found favor in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession; bring us not over the Jordan.
And Moses said unto the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to the war, and shall ye sit here?
And wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which Jehovah hath given them?
Thus did your fathers, when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land.
For when they went up unto 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 Jehovah had given them.
And Jehovah's anger was kindled in that day, and he sware, saying,
Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me:
save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun; because they have wholly followed Jehovah.
And Jehovah's anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander to and fro in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of Jehovah, was consumed.
And, behold, ye are risen up in your fathers' stead, an increase of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of Jehovah toward Israel.
For if ye turn away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and ye will destroy all this people.
And they came near unto him, and said, We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones:
but we ourselves will be ready armed to go before the children of Israel, until we have brought them unto their place: and our little ones shall dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land.
We will not return unto our houses, until the children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance.
For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan, and forward; because our inheritance is fallen to us on this side of the Jordan eastward.
And Moses said unto them, If ye will do this thing, if ye will arm yourselves to go before Jehovah to the war,
and every armed man of you will pass over the Jordan before Jehovah, until he hath driven out his enemies from before him,
and the land is subdued before Jehovah; then afterward ye shall return, and be guiltless towards Jehovah, and towards Israel; and this land shall be unto you for a possession before Jehovah.
But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against Jehovah; and be sure your sin will find you out.
Build you cities for your little ones, and folds for your sheep; and do that which hath proceeded out of your mouth.
And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben spake unto Moses, saying, Thy servants will do as my lord commandeth.
Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our cattle, shall be there in the cities of Gilead;
but thy servants will pass over, every man that is armed for war, before Jehovah to battle, as my lord saith.
So Moses gave charge concerning them to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the children of Israel.
And Moses said unto them, If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will pass with you over the Jordan, every man that is armed to battle, before Jehovah, and the land shall be subdued before you; then ye shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession:
but if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.
And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying, As Jehovah hath said unto thy servants, so will we do.
We will pass over armed before Jehovah into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us beyond the Jordan.
And Moses gave unto them, even to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, and unto 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 the cities thereof with their borders, even the cities of the land round about.
And the children of Gad built Dibon, and Ataroth, and Aroer,
and Atrothshophan, and Jazer, and Jogbehah,
and Beth-nimrah, and Beth-haran: fortified cities, and folds for sheep.
And the children of Reuben built Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Kiriathaim,
and Nebo, and Baal-meon, (their names being changed,) and Sibmah: and they gave other names unto the cities which they builded.
And the children of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead, and took it, and dispossessed the Amorites that were therein.
And Moses gave Gilead unto Machir the son of Manasseh; and he dwelt therein.
And Jair the son of Manasseh went and took the towns thereof, and called them {That is, The towns of Jair.}Havvoth-jair.
And Nobah went and took Kenath, and the {Hebrew: daughters.}villages thereof, and called it Nobah, after his own name.
Querverweise zu 4. Mose 32,9 4Mo 32,9
And they came unto the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it upon a staff between two; they brought also of the pomegranates, and of the figs.
That place was called the valley of {That is, a cluster}Eshcol, because of the cluster which the children of Israel cut down from thence.
And they returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days.
And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.
And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us; and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.
Howbeit the people that dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.
Amalek dwelleth in the land of the South: and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, dwell in the hill-country; and the Canaanite dwelleth by the sea, and along by the side of the Jordan.
And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
But the men that went up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had spied out unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature.
And there we saw the {Or, giants}Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would that we had died in this wilderness!
And wherefore doth Jehovah bring us unto this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be a prey: were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of them that spied out the land, rent their clothes:
and they spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land.
If Jehovah delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it unto us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.
Only rebel not against Jehovah, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their {Hebrew: shadow.}defence is removed from over them, and Jehovah is with us: fear them not.
But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of Jehovah appeared in the tent of meeting unto all the children of Israel.
and they turned and went up into the hill-country, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and spied it out.
And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which Jehovah our God giveth unto us.
Yet ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of Jehovah your God:
and ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because Jehovah hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.
Whither are we going up? our brethren have made our heart to melt, saying, The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.