8. Your fathers did this, 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 people of Israel from going into the land that the Lord had given them.
10. And the Lord’s anger was kindled on 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 that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not wholly followed me,
12. none except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the Lord.’
13. And 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 gone.
14. And behold, you have risen in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more the fierce anger of the Lord against Israel!
15. For if you turn away from following him, he will again abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all this people.”
16. Then they came near to him and said, “We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones,
17. but we will take up arms, ready to go before the people of Israel, until we have brought them to their place. And our little ones shall live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land.
18. We will not return to our homes until each of the people of Israel has gained his inheritance.
19. For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan to the east.”
20. So Moses said to them, “If you will do this, if you will take up arms to go before the Lord for 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 after that you shall return and be free of obligation to the Lord and to Israel, and this land shall be your 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 what you have promised.”
25. And the people of Gad and the people of Reuben said to Moses, “Your servants will do as my lord commands.
26. Our little ones, our wives, our livestock, and all our cattle shall remain 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 orders.”
28. So Moses gave command 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 people of Israel.