11. go through the camp and say to the people, “Get some food ready, because in three days you are going to cross the River Jordan to occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”
12. Joshua said to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and to half the tribe of Manasseh,
13. “Remember how Moses, the Lord's servant, told you that the Lord your God would give you this land on the east side of the Jordan as your home.
14. Your wives, your children, and your livestock will stay here, but your soldiers, armed for battle, will cross over ahead of their fellow-Israelites in order to help them
15. until they have occupied the land west of the Jordan that the Lord your God has given them. When he has given safety to all the tribes of Israel, then you may come back and settle here in your own land east of the Jordan, which Moses, the Lord's servant, gave to you.”
16. They answered Joshua, “We will do everything you have told us and will go wherever you send us.
17. We will obey you, just as we always obeyed Moses, and may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses!