6 And Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here?
6 Moses said to the Gadites and Reubenites, "Should your fellow Israelites go to war while you sit here?
6 But Moses said to the people of Gad and to the people of Reuben, "Shall your brothers go to the war while you sit here?
6 Moses answered the families of Gad and Reuben: "Do you mean that you are going to leave the fighting that's ahead to your brothers while you settle down here?
6 And Moses said to the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben: "Shall your brethren go to war while you sit here?
6 "Do you intend to stay here while your brothers go across and do all the fighting?" Moses asked the men of Gad and Reuben.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Numbers 32:6
Commentary on Numbers 32:6-15
(Read Numbers 32:6-15)
The proposal showed disregard to the land of Canaan, distrust of the Lord's promise, and unwillingness to encounter the difficulties and dangers of conquering and driving out the inhabitants of that land. Moses is wroth with them. It will becomes any of God's Israel to sit down unconcerned about the difficult and perilous concerns of their brethren, whether public or personal. He reminds them of the fatal consequences of the unbelief and faint-heartedness of their fathers, when they were, as themselves, just ready to enter Canaan. If men considered as they ought what would be the end of sin, they would be afraid of the beginning of it.