¹ And he said to me: Son of man, eat all that thou shalt find: eat this book, and go speak to the children of Israel.

² And I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that book :

³ And he said to me: Son of man, thy belly shall eat, and thy bowels shall be filled with this book, which I give thee. And I did eat it: and it was sweet as honey in my mouth.

⁴ And he said to me: Son of man, go to the house of Israel, and thou shalt speak my words to them.

⁵ For thou art not sent to a people of a profound speech, and of an unknown tongue, but to the house of Israel:

⁶ Nor to many nations of a strange speech, and of an unknown tongue, whose words thou canst not understand: and if thou wert sent to them, they would hearken to thee.

⁷ But the house of Israel will not hearken to thee: because they will not hearken to me: for all the house of Israel are of a hard forehead and an obstinate heart.

⁸ Behold I have made thy face stronger than their faces: and thy forehead harder than their foreheads.

⁹ I have made thy face like an adamant and like flint: fear them not, neither be thou dismayed at their presence: for they are a provoking house.

¹⁰ And he said to me: Son of man, receive in thy heart, and hear with thy ears, all the words that I speak to thee:

¹¹ And go get thee in to them of the captivity, to the children of thy people, and thou shalt speak to them, and shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: If so be they will hear and will forbear.

¹² And the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great commotion, saying: Blessed be the glory of the Lord, from his place.

¹³ And the noise of the wings of the living creatures striking one against another, and the noise of the wheels following the living creatures, and the noise of a great commotion.

¹⁴ The spirit also lifted me, and took me up: and I went away in bitterness in the indignation of my spirit: for the hand of the Lord was with me, strengthening me.

¹⁵ And I came to them of the captivity, to the heap of new corn, to them that dwelt by the river Chobar, and I sat where they sat: and I remained there seven days mourning in the midst of them.

¹⁶ And at the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

¹⁷ Son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel: and thou shalt hear the word out of my mouth, and shalt tell it them from me.

¹⁸ If, when I say to the wicked, Thou shalt surely die: thou declare it not to him, nor speak to him, that he may be converted from his wicked way, and live: the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand.

¹⁹ But if thou give warning to the wicked, and he be not converted from his wickedness, and from his evil way: he indeed shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul.

²⁰ Moreover if the just man shall turn away from his justice, and shall commit iniquity: I will lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die, because thou hast not given him warning: he shall die in his sin, and his justices which he hath done, shall not be remembered: but I will require his blood at thy hand.

²¹ But if thou warn the just man, that the just may not sin, and he doth not sin: living he shall live, because thou hast warned him, and thou hast delivered thy soul.

²² And the hand of the Lord was upon me, and he said to me: Rise and go forth into the plain, and there I will speak to thee.

²³ And I rose up, and went forth into the plain: and behold the glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory which I saw by the river Chobar: and I fell upon my face.

²⁴ And the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet: and he spoke to me, and said to me: Go in; and shut thyself up in the midst of thy house.

²⁵ And thou, O son of man, behold they shall put bands upon thee, and they shall bind thee with them: and thou shalt not go forth from the midst of them.

²⁶ And I will make thy tongue stick fast to the roof of thy mouth, and thou shalt be dumb, and not as a man that reproveth: because they are a provoking house.

²⁷ But when I shall speak to thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: He that heareth, let him hear: and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they are a provoking house.

¹ Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of livestock: and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that behold, the place was a place for livestock;

² the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the princes of the congregation, saying,

³ "Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Sebam, and Nebo, and Beon,

⁴ the land which Yahweh struck before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock; and your servants have livestock."

⁵ 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."

⁶ Moses said to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, "Shall your brothers go to the war, and shall you sit here?

⁷ Why do you discourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which Yahweh has given them?

⁸ Your fathers did so 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 children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which Yahweh had given them.

¹⁰ Yahweh's anger was kindled in 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 which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me:

¹² except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun; because they have followed Yahweh completely.'

¹³ Yahweh's anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander back and forth in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, who had done evil in the sight of Yahweh, was consumed.

¹⁴ "Behold, you have risen up in your fathers' place, an increase of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of Yahweh toward Israel.

¹⁵ For if you turn away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and you will destroy all this people."

¹⁶ They came near to him, and said, "We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones:

¹⁷ but we ourselves will be ready armed to go before the children of Israel, until we have brought them to their place: and our little ones shall dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land.

¹⁸ We will not return to our houses, until the children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance.

¹⁹ 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."

²⁰ Moses said to them, "If you will do this thing, if you will arm yourselves to go before Yahweh to the war,

²¹ and every armed man of you will pass over the Jordan before Yahweh, until he has driven out his enemies from before him,

²² and the land is subdued before Yahweh; then afterward you shall return, and be guiltless towards Yahweh, and towards Israel; and this land shall be to you for a possession before Yahweh.

²³ "But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against Yahweh; and be sure your sin will find you out.

²⁴ Build cities for your little ones, and folds for your sheep; and do that which has proceeded out of your mouth."

²⁵ The children of Gad and the children of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, "Your servants will do as my lord commands.

²⁶ Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our livestock, shall be there in the cities of Gilead;

²⁷ but your servants will pass over, every man who is armed for war, before Yahweh to battle, as my lord says."

²⁸ So Moses commanded 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.

²⁹ Moses said to them, "If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will pass with you over the Jordan, every man who is armed to battle, before Yahweh, and the land shall be subdued before you; then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession:

³⁰ but if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan."

³¹ The children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying, "As Yahweh has said to your servants, so will we do.

³² We will pass over armed before Yahweh into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance [shall remain] with us beyond the Jordan."

³³ Moses gave to them, even to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, and to 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 of it with [their] borders, even the cities of the surrounding land.

³⁴ The children of Gad built Dibon, and Ataroth, and Aroer,

³⁵ and Atrothshophan, and Jazer, and Jogbehah,

³⁶ and Beth Nimrah, and Beth Haran: fortified cities, and folds for sheep.

³⁷ The children of Reuben built Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Kiriathaim,

³⁸ and Nebo, and Baal Meon, (their names being changed), and Sibmah: and they gave other names to the cities which they built.

³⁹ The children of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead, and took it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were therein.

⁴⁰ Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh; and he lived therein.

⁴¹ Jair the son of Manasseh went and took its towns, and called them Havvoth Jair.

⁴² Nobah went and took Kenath, and its villages, and called it Nobah, after his own name.