Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageThey stepped forward and said, 'Let us build stone enclosures here for our flocks and towns for our children.'
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GThen they came close to him and said, 'Let us build sheepfolds here for our flocks, and towns for our little ones.'
KJV
King James VersionAnd they came near unto him, and said, We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones:
BSB
Berean Standard BibleThen the Gadites and Reubenites approached Moses and said, “We want to build sheepfolds here for our livestock and cities for our little ones.
Footnotes
טַפֵּנוּ (*tapenu*), from טַף (*taf*), refers to small children—literally those who take small, tottering steps—and by extension all dependents too young or vulnerable to march to war. The same word appears in Num. 14:3, where the frightened generation feared their children would become plunder in Canaan; the next generation now inverts that fear into a reason to settle. The irony is sharp: the fathers doubted the land was safe for their *taf*; their children cite their own *taf* as justification to stop at the border. FOG and FOG Message render 'little ones' and 'children' respectively, but FOG preserves the diminutive, helpless texture of the Hebrew.
