They came to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and the princes of the multitude, and said:

And 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 assembly, saying,

and the sons of Gad, and the sons of Reuben, come in and speak unto Moses, and unto Eleazar the priest, and unto the princes of the company, saying:

The children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and said to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the chiefs of the meeting,

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

they went to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest and the leaders of the multitude, and they said:

Venerunt igitur filii Gad et filii Ruben, et dixerunt ad Mosen et Eleazar sacerdotem, et ad principes congregationis, dicendo:

The children of Gad and the children of Reuben came. Their request was apparently a reasonable one, that, since God had driven out the inhabitants of the land, and its fertility invited them to dwell there, the possession of these empty and deserted fields should not be denied them. Their modesty also was praiseworthy, in that they neither detach themselves from the people, nor seditiously and violently seize upon the places which were so suitable for them; but seek to obtain them by the permission of Moses and the elders, as if they submitted their cause to their decision. But as I have just said, their private interest had so laid hold of their minds, that the main point did not occur to them, viz., that the land of Canaan was set before them all, in order that they might dwell together there separate from heathen nations; and, again, that it was unjust for them not only to enjoy repose, whilst the others were fighting, but also to be settled in an assured and peaceable habitation, while the ten tribes were still advancing to the conquest of the promised land.

The children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spake unto Moses,.... The children of Gad are mentioned first, though Reuben was the firstborn, and had a standard under which Gad pitched: it may be, as Aben Ezra thinks, the Gadites were the first authors of this counsel, the contrivers of this scheme; who first moved it to the Reubenites, which they had an opportunity of doing, lying encamped by them; or however, they might be the most busy and active in this affair, or the best spokesmen; for it could be only some, in the name of the whole, that addressed Moses on this account, and spoke to him about it:
and to Eleazar the priest, and unto the princes of the congregation; who perhaps were the seventy elders, and with Moses the chief ruler, and Eleazar the high priest, made up the grand sanhedrim, or great council of the nation, and were undoubtedly the most proper persons to apply unto:
saying: as follows.