Wherefore, said they, if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession, and bring us not over Jordan.
Parallel translations
- WEB 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.”
- BSB “If we have found favor in your sight,” they said, “let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan.”
- NKJV Therefore they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not take us over the Jordan.”
- NASB And they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as our property; do not take us across the Jordan.”
- NLT If we have found favor with you, please let us have this land as our property instead of giving us land across the Jordan River.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
They asked to be given this land and not be brought across the Jordan into Canaan.
Overview
Their request to settle east of the Jordan seemed to opt out of the shared inheritance and conquest. This echoed the earlier failure of faith that kept a generation from the land. Moses would rightly challenge whether they would abandon their brothers, teaching that God's people must not seek their own ease at the cost of the whole.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Deut 1:37Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither.
- Ruth 2:10Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?
- Jer 31:2Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.
- Gen 19:19Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:
- Deut 3:25–26I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon.
- Esth 5:2And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favour in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre.
- 1 Sam 20:3And David sware moreover, and said, Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes; and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death.
- Josh 7:7And Joshua said, Alas, O LORD God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan!
- 2 Sam 14:22And Joab fell to the ground on his face, and bowed himself, and thanked the king: and Joab said, To day thy servant knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight, my lord, O king, in that the king hath fulfilled the request of his servant.
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 32:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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