Numbers 32:31

31 The descendants of Gad and the descendants of Reuben answered and said, "What Yahweh has commanded your servants, we will do.

Numbers 32:31 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 32:31

And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered,
&c.], The word is in the singular number, and shows their unanimity, that they agreed to what Moses said, and replied all of them as one man, as Jarchi expresses it; and it may be there was one that was the mouth of them all, and answered for them:

saying, as the Lord hath said unto thy servants, so will we do;
here they make use of the word Jehovah, taking what Moses had said unto them as from the Lord, and therefore should strictly and punctually observe it, as if they heard the Lord himself speak it.

Numbers 32:31 In-Context

29 Moses said to them, "If the descendants of Gad and the descendants of Reuben, everyone who is armed for the war, cross over the Jordan {before} Yahweh, and the land is subdued before you, you will give them the land of Gilead as property.

30 But if they will not cross over with you armed, they will acquire land in your midst in Canaan."

31 The descendants of Gad and the descendants of Reuben answered and said, "What Yahweh has commanded your servants, we will do.

32 We ourselves will cross over armed {before} Yahweh to the land of Canaan, and the property of our inheritance [will remain] with us beyond the Jordan."

33 So Moses gave to them, to the descendants of Gad and the descendants of Reuben, and to half of the tribe of Joseph's son Manasseh, the kingdom of Sihon the king of Amorites and the kingdom of Og the king of the Bashan, the land with its cities [and their] territories, the cities of the surrounding land.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "sons"