OET OET-RV OET-LV GHT ULT UST BSB MSB BLB AICNT OEB WEBBE WMBB NET LSV FBV TCNT T4T LEB BBE Moff JPS Wymth ASV DRA YLT Drby RV SLT Wbstr KJB-1769 KJB-1611 Bshps Gnva Cvdl TNT Wycl SR-GNT UHB BrLXX BrTr Related Parallel Simple Interlinear Topics Reference Dictionary Search
OET By Document By Section By Chapter Details
OET INT FRT GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD 1 YHN 2 YHN 3 YHN REV
NUM Intro C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C27 C28 C29 C30 C31 C33 C34 C35 C36
This is still an early look into the drafted text of the Open English Translation of the Bible. Please double-check the text in advance before using in public.
32 The people from the Reuven and Gad tribes had amassed a lot of livestock, and they noticed that the Yazer and Gilead regions were very suitable for livestock. 2 So their leaders went to Mosheh and the priest Eleazar and the community leaders to say, 3 The regions of Atarot, Divon, Yazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sevam, Nevo, and Beon 4 are in the land here that Yahweh has handed over to us Israelis. It’s ideal for livestock, and we, your servants, raise livestock. 5 If we’ve earnt your favour, let this land be given to your servants for us to own, rather than forcing us to cross over the Yarden river with all the other tribes.”
6 “It wouldn’t be right for your fellow Israelis to go to war while you all just stay here,” Mosheh told them. 7 “So why do you discourage Israeli enthusiasm for crossing over into the land that Yahweh has given them? 8 Your parents did that at Kadesh-Barnea when I sent them in to survey the land.[ref] 9 They went as far as the Eshkol valley and they saw the land, yet they discouraged the people from entering the land that Yahweh had given them. 10 Yahweh got very angry that day, and promised, 11 ‘From the men who came out of Egypt, no man who’s twenty or older will see the land which I promised to Abraham, Yitshak (Isaac), and Yakov (Jacob), because they’re not fully with me. 12 Only Yefunneh’s son Kalev (Caleb) and Nun’s son Yehoshua (Joshua) will enter because they have believed me.’ 13 So Yahweh got angry with Yisrael, and made us wander in the wilderness for forty years until that generation was eliminated who had been evil as per Yahweh’s judgement. 14 Now look here! You’re standing in front of me just like your parents—a brood of disobedient people who’ll make Yahweh more angry with you than he was with your parents! 15 If you all turn away from following him, he’ll abandon you all in the wilderness again, and you will have destroyed this nation.”
16 However, they stepped closer to him and said, “First we’ll build pens for our animals, and build cities for our families here. 17 Then we’ll equip ourselves for war, to go ahead of the rest of Yisrael until we’ve brought them into their place. Meanwhile our families will live in those fortified cities because there’ll still be threats from those who live in this region. 18 We won’t return to our homes until every Israeli is in possession of his inheritance. 19 We won’t take any land there on the other side of the Yarden river or beyond because this will be our inheritance here on the eastern side.”
20 “If you’re going to do that,” Mosheh responded, “then you all must equip yourselves to fight battles for Yahweh, 21 and all of your armed warriors must cross the Yarden to serve Yahweh until he’s driven his enemies out ahead of him. 22 Once the land is subdued before Yahweh, then you all can return. You’ll be free of obligation from Yahweh and from Yisrael, and this land here will be your possession from Yahweh. 23 However, if you all don’t help the rest of us, you will be disobeying Yahweh, and your disobedience will catch up with you. 24 So go ahead and build your cities for your families, and pens for your flocks, and do what you’ve committed to.”
25 “Your servants will do what you’ve said,” confirmed the leaders of the Reuven and Gad tribes. 26 “Our wives and children, and our livestock and all our animals will remain in cities here in the Gilead region, 27 but we’ll equip ourselves for battle and to cross the river to battle for Yahweh just as my master has spoken.”
28 So Mosheh gave instructions about them to the priest Eleazar, Nun’s son Yehoshua, and the Israeli tribal leaders,[ref] 29 telling them, “If the men from Gad and Reuven tribes cross over the Yarden with you and equipped ready to fight for Yahweh and that land is conquered, then you must give them the Gilead region for them to own. 30 However, if they don’t cross over with the rest of you, then they’ll have to accept land to own there in Kanaan (Canaan).”
31 ⇔“What Yahweh has told you, his servants, that’s what we’ll do,” the leaders of the Gad and Reuven tribes responded. 32 We’ll send armed men across to Kanaan, equipped to fight for Yahweh. However, our inheritance to own will be here on this side of the Yarden river.”
33 So Mosheh gave that region to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, the half-tribe of Yosef’s son Menashsheh, encompassing the kingdoms of the Amorite King Sihon and the Bashan’s King Og, plus the surrounding territories. 34 The Gadites rebuilt Divon, Atarot, Aroer, 35 Atrot-Shofan, Yazer, Yogbehah, 36 Beyt-Nimrah, and Beyt-Haran—all fortified cities with pens for their flocks. 37 The Reuvenites rebuilt Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiryatayim, 38 Nevo, Baal-Meon, and Sibmah, but they renamed some of the cities.
39 The descendants of Menashsheh’s son Makir went to Gilead and captured it—driving out the Amorites who lived there. 40 So Mosheh gave Gilead to Menashsheh’s son Makir, and his clan lived there. 41 Menashsheh’s other son Yair went and captured the Amorite villages and named them ‘Yair’s Towns’ (or ‘Havvot-Yair’). 42 A man named Novah went and captured Kenat and its villages, and renamed it to ‘Novah’ after himself.
Though technically not part of the land promised to the Israelites in Numbers 34, the land immediately east of the Jordan River and the northern basin of the Dead Sea (often referred to today as the Transjordan) was conquered by the Israelites as they were preparing to enter the Promised Land (Numbers 21:21-35; 32:1-42; Deuteronomy 2:24-37; Judges 11:19-22). Moses agreed to allot this land to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, provided that they continued to help the other tribes conquer the land of Canaan (Numbers 32:1-42; Deuteronomy 3:12-20). The area allotted to Reuben had been ruled by King Sihon of the Amorites, who had taken this land years earlier from the Moabites (Numbers 21:26). Moab’s prior rule over the territory allotted to Reuben explains why the plain to the northwest of this region continued to be referred to as the plains of Moab even during the time of Joshua (Joshua 13:32). This region also appears to have been claimed by the Ammonites (Judges 11:13), though it is not clear whether they ever actually controlled it. Sihon had also taken from the Ammonites the area later allotted to Gad (Joshua 13:25; see “Sodom and Gomorrah Are Destroyed” map). North of this was the area of Bashan, which had been ruled by King Og, who was among the last of the Rephaites (Deuteronomy 3:11-13; Joshua 12:4; 13:12). All of this was captured by the Israelites on their way to the Promised Land (Joshua 12:1-6; Deuteronomy 3:1-11).
As far as the specific borders of each of the three eastern Israelite tribes, those of Reuben are delineated in Joshua 13:15-23, those of Gad are delineated in Joshua 13:24–28 (note that Joshua 13:25 asserts that Aroer literally “faced” Rabbah, which in this context meant that it lay west of it, not east), and those of half the tribe of Manasseh are delineated in Joshua 13:29–31. Interestingly, Numbers 32:34-36 notes that Gad rebuilt the towns of Dibon, Ataroth, and Aroer, which Joshua 13:15-23 places within the boundaries of Reuben, but perhaps Gad rebuilt the towns prior to being formally allotted their territory further north. Several other passages also note that Ramoth-gilead, a city of refuge, belonged to Gad (Deuteronomy 4:43; Joshua 20:8; Joshua 21:38; 1 Chronicles 6:80).
It is also interesting to note that virtually all of the eastern land of Manasseh was conquered under the leadership of Jair, who was actually a Judahite by his father’s lineage but was typically regarded a Manassite through his mother’s lineage (Numbers 32:40-42; Deuteronomy 3:14; Joshua 13:30; Judges 10:3-5; 1 Kings 4:13; 1 Chronicles 2:22-23; see “Bashan” map). This may be in keeping with the Manassite tradition of allowing daughters to receive an inheritance (and, presumably, recognition of their descendants) just as they allowed sons to receive an inheritance (Numbers 27; Joshua 17:1-6; see also “The Towns and Clans of Eastern Judah, circa 1200 B.C.”).
Further insight into the allotments of the Transjordan is gained through 1 Chronicles 5, which notes that Gad’s territory extended as far as Salecah. This requires that its territory was notably larger than it is depicted on most Bible maps today, which typically limit its eastern boundary to the border of Ammon. This may seem at odds with several other passages that mention the Jabbok River as the northern boundary of Sihon’s land and make no mention of Salecah and the land northwest of the Jabbok River (Numbers 21:24; Deuteronomy 3:16; Joshua 12:2; Judges 11:13-22). But, as noted above, several other passages also note that Ramoth-gilead belonged to Gad, which is (like Salecah) located far north of the Jabbok River. This author has concluded that the northeastern boundary between Gad and Manasseh almost certainly followed the Yarmuk River all the way to Salecah and also passed through Tob.
First Chronicles 5 also notes that later, under the reign of Saul, the Israelite eastern tribes joined together to capture territory east of Gilead, which was inhabited by the nomadic descendants of Hagar and her son Ishmael (1 Chronicles 5:10-22; see also “Nomadic Range of Ishmael’s Descendants”), who are often referred to in Scripture as “peoples of the East” (Genesis 29:1; Judges 6-8; 1 Kings 4:30; Job 1:3; Isaiah 11:14; Jeremiah 4:28; Ezekiel 25:4; 25:10). It is not clear, however, that this territory was ever formally considered to belong to the territory of Israel.
Also located within the territory of the Transjordanian tribes were the enclaves of Geshur, Maacah, and the land of Tob. Geshur and Maacah are mentioned among those who remained as non-Israelite enclaves within Israel’s territory ((Joshua 12:5; 13:1-13). The land of Tob must have functioned similarly within Israel as well, because it contributed troops to the Ammonite and Aramean alliance that fought against David’s forces (2 Samuel 10:6). This also makes better sense of Jephthah’s decision to retreat to the land of Tob after he was driven away by his brothers (Judges 11:3).
NUM Intro C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C27 C28 C29 C30 C31 C33 C34 C35 C36