Numbers 32:17

Numbers 32:17. We—will go ready armed before the children of Israel— Having taken into consideration what Moses had said, the two tribes apply to him again, and offer, in a very reasonable manner, to go ready armed before the children of Israel; as much as to say, "though we desired to settle here with our families, we wish not to decline the fatigues of war, but are ready to furnish such quota of troops as shall be required of us." The LXX render it, we will put ourselves at the head of the troops of Israel; and accordingly we find, that forty thousand of them, ready armed for war, accompanied their brethren, Deuteronomy 3:18. Joshua 4:12. By the inhabitants of the land we are to understand the Moabites, the Idumaeans, and the rest of the conquered people, against whose attempts it was natural to guard.