Reubenites in the Bible

Exact Match

Reuben’s military divisions will camp on the south side under their banner. The leader of the Reubenites is Elizur son of Shedeur.

On the fourth day Elizur son of Shedeur, leader of the Reubenites, presented an offering.

Now Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, who were Reubenites, took men

Reuben was the firstborn of Israel. The Reubenites: from Hanoch, the family of the Hanochites; from Pallu, the family of the Palluites;

These are the families of the Reubenites: and they that were numbered of them were forty and three thousand and seven hundred and thirty.

The Reubenites and Gadites had a very large number of livestock. When they surveyed the lands of Jazer and Gilead, they saw that the region was a good one for livestock.

So the Gadites and Reubenites came to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the community and said:

But Moses asked the Gadites and Reubenites, “Should your brothers go to war while you stay here?

The Gadites and Reubenites answered Moses, “Your servants will do just as my lord commands.

Moses told them, “If the Gadites and Reubenites cross the Jordan with you, every man in battle formation before the Lord, and the land is subdued before you, you are to give them the land of Gilead as a possession.

The Gadites and Reubenites replied, “What the Lord has spoken to your servants is what we will do.

So Moses gave them—the Gadites, Reubenites, and half the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph—the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land including its cities with the territories surrounding them.

The Reubenites rebuilt Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim,

For the tribe of the children of the Reubenites according to their fathers' houses, and the tribe of the children of the Gadites according to their fathers' houses, have received, and half the tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance;

And this land, which we possessed at that time, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, and half mount Gilead, and the cities thereof, gave I unto the Reubenites and to the Gadites.

And unto the Reubenites and unto the Gadites I gave from Gilead even unto the river Arnon half the valley, and the border even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon;

Namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, of the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, of the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, of the Manassites.

And we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance unto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of Manasseh.

And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying,

The Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh went in battle formation in front of the Israelites, as Moses had instructed them.

Them did Moses the servant of the LORD and the children of Israel smite: and Moses the servant of the LORD gave it for a possession unto the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh.

With whom the Reubenites and the Gadites have received their inheritance, which Moses gave them, beyond Jordan eastward, even as Moses the servant of the LORD gave them;

To the tribe of the Reubenites by their clans, Moses gave

The border of the Reubenites was the Jordan and its plain. This was the inheritance of the Reubenites by their clans, with the cities and their villages.

Then Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh,

The Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh in the land of Canaan to return to their own land of Gilead, which they took possession of according to the Lord’s command through Moses.

When they came to the region of the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh built a large, impressive altar there by the Jordan.

Then the Israelites heard it said, “Look, the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the frontier of the land of Canaan at the region of the Jordan, on the Israelite side.”

The Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead.

They went to the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and told them,

The Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders of the Israelite clans,

The Lord made the Jordan a boundary between us and you Reubenites and Gadites. You have no right to worship the Lord.' In this way your descendants might cause our descendants to stop obeying the Lord.

When Phinehas the priest and the community leaders and clan leaders who accompanied him heard the defense of the Reubenites, Gadites, and the Manassehites, they were satisfied.

Phinehas, son of Eleazar, the priest, said to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the Manassehites, "Today we know that the Lord is among us, because you have not disobeyed the Lord in this. Now you have rescued the Israelites from the Lord's judgment."

Then Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest and the leaders returned from the Reubenites and Gadites in the land of Gilead to the Israelites in the land of Canaan and brought back a report to them.

The Israelites were pleased with the report, and they praised God. They spoke no more about going to war against them to ravage the land where the Reubenites and Gadites lived.

So the Reubenites and Gadites named the altar: It is a witness between us that the Lord is God.

But certain worthless fellows said, "How shall this man save us?" They despised him, and brought him no present. But he held his peace. Now Nahash, king of the Ammonites, was severely oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He put out the right eye of all of them, and he would not allow anyone to rescue Israel. Not one was left of the children of Israel beyond the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, did not put out, except for seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and went to Jabesh Gilead.

From Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan.

Beerah his son, whom Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria carried away captive: he was prince of the Reubenites.

The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh [had] {valiant} men [who] carried a shield and a sword, and archers, and [who were] expert in war, forty-four thousand seven hundred and sixty [for] going out [as] an army.

And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, unto this day.

Adina the son of Shiza the Reubenite, a captain of the Reubenites, and thirty with him,

And on the other side of Jordan, of the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and of the half tribe of Manasseh, with all manner of instruments of war for the battle, an hundred and twenty thousand.

And his brethren, men of valour, were two thousand and seven hundred chief fathers, whom king David made rulers over the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, for every matter pertaining to God, and affairs of the king.

Furthermore over the tribes of Israel: the ruler of the Reubenites was Eliezer the son of Zichri: of the Simeonites, Shephatiah the son of Maachah:

Thematic Bible



When they came to the region of the Jordan which is in the land of Canaan, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, an altar that was great to behold.

The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad called the altar Witness; “For it is a witness between us that the Lord is God.”


The sons of Reuben, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh -- "valiant men able to bear buckler and sword and to shoot with bow and skillful in war -- "were 44,760 able and ready to go forth to war. And [these Israelites, on the east side of the Jordan River] made war with the Hagrites [a tribe of northern Arabia], Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab. They were given help against them, and the Hagrites or Ishmaelites were delivered into their hands, and all who were allied with them, for they cried to God in the battle; and He granted their entreaty, because they relied on, clung to, and trusted in Him. read more.
And [these Israelites] took away their adversaries' herds: of their camels 50,000, and of sheep 250,000, and of donkeys 2,000, and of the lives of men 100,000. For a great number fell mortally wounded, because the battle was God's. And [these Israelites] dwelt in their territory until the captivity [by Assyria more than five centuries later].

Eastward [Bela] inhabited the land as far as the entrance into the desert this [west] side of the river Euphrates, because their cattle had multiplied in the land of Gilead. In the days of [King] Saul they made war with the Hagrites or Ishmaelites, who fell by their hands; they dwelt in their tents in all the land east of Gilead.


No! But we did it for fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? For the Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you Reubenites and Gadites; you have no part in the Lord. So your children might make our children cease from fearing the Lord. So we said, Let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice, read more.
But to be a witness between us and you and between the generations after us, that we will perform the service of the Lord before Him with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings; lest your children say to our children in time to come, You have no portion in the Lord. So we thought, if that should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we can reply, Behold the copy of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings nor for sacrifices, but to be a witness between us and you. Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord and turn away this day from following the Lord to build an altar for burnt offerings, for cereal offerings, or for sacrifices, besides the altar of the Lord our God that is before His tabernacle.


And said to them, You have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you. You have not deserted your brethren [the other tribes] these many days to this day but have carefully kept the charge of the Lord your God.


Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, descendants of Reuben, took action,


the Arabah also, with the Jordan as its boundary, from Chinnereth (the Sea of Galilee) as far as the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea (Dead Sea), at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah on the east.

with all the Arabah (desert lowlands) across the Jordan to the east, even as far as the sea of the Arabah (the Dead Sea), at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah.

and the Arabah [plain] as far as the Sea of Chinnereth (Galilee) eastward, and as far as the sea of the Arabah, the Salt (Dead) Sea, eastward toward Beth-jeshimoth, and southward to the foot of the slopes of [Mount] Pisgah;


But the Levites have no portion among you, because the priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance. Gad and Reuben and half the tribe of Manasseh also have received their inheritance eastward beyond the Jordan, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave them.”

Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. And the Lord said to me, Do not fear him, for I have given him and all his people and his land into your hand; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon. So the Lord our God also gave into our hands Og king of Bashan and all his people, and we smote him until not one was left to him. read more.
And we took all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them, sixty cities, the whole region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these cities were fortified with high and haughty walls, gates, and bars, besides a great many unwalled villages. And we utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying every city -- "men, women, and children. But all the cattle and the spoil of the cities we took for booty for ourselves. So we took the land at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the Valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon (The Sidonians call Hermon, Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir), All the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the [gigantic] Rephaim. Behold, his bedstead was of iron; is it not in Rabbah of the Ammonites? Nine cubits was its length and four cubits its breadth, using the cubit of a man [the forearm to the end of the middle finger]. When we took possession of this land, I gave to the Reubenites and the Gadites the territory from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead and its cities. The rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, that is, all the region of Argob in Bashan, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. It is called the land of Rephaim [of giant stature]. Jair son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob, that is, Bashan, as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and called it after his own name, Havvoth-jair, so called to this day. And I gave Gilead to Machir [son of Manasseh]. And to the Reubenites and Gadites I gave from Gilead even to the Valley of the Arnon, with the middle of the valley as the boundary of it, as far over as the river Jabbok, the boundary of the Ammonites, The Arabah also, with the Jordan as its boundary, from Chinnereth as far as the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt [Dead] Sea, under the cliffs [of the headlands] of Pisgah on the east. And I commanded you at that time, saying, The Lord your God has given you this land to possess it; you [Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh] shall go over [the Jordan] armed before your brethren the other Israelites, all that are able for war. But your wives and your little ones and your cattle -- "I know that you have many cattle -- "shall remain in your cities which I have given you, Until the Lord has given rest to your brethren as to you, and until they also possess the land which the Lord your God has given them beyond the Jordan. Then shall you return every man to the possession which I have given you.

And Moses gave an inheritance to the tribe of the Reubenites according to their families: Their territory was from Aroer on the edge of the Valley of the [river] Arnon, and the city in the midst of the valley, and all the tableland by Medeba; With Heshbon and all its cities which are on the plain; Dibon, Bamoth-baal, and Beth-baal-meon, read more.
Jahaz, Kedemoth, Mephaath, Kiriathaim, Sibmah, and Zereth-shahar on the hill of the valley, Beth-peor, Pisgah's slopes, and Beth-jeshimoth, All the cities of the plain and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, whom Moses defeated along with the leaders of Midian, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the princes of Sihon who lived in the land. Balaam son of Beor, the soothsayer, the Israelites also killed with the sword among the rest of their slain. And the border of the Reubenites was the Jordan. This was the inheritance of the Reubenites according to their families, with their cities and villages.


And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, Remember what Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, The Lord your God is giving you [of these two and a half tribes a place of] rest and will give you this land [east of the Jordan]. Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle shall dwell in the land which Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan, but all your mighty men of valor shall pass on before your brethren [of the other tribes] armed, and help them [possess their land] read more.
Until the Lord gives your brethren rest, as He has given you, and they also possess the land the Lord your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and possess it, the land Moses the Lord's servant gave you on the sunrise side of the Jordan. They answered Joshua, All you command us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. As we hearkened to Moses in all things, so will we hearken to you; only may the Lord your God be with you as He was with Moses. Whoever rebels against your commandment and will not hearken to all you command him shall be put to death. Only be strong, vigorous, and of good courage.

Then Joshua called the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, And said to them, You have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you. You have not deserted your brethren [the other tribes] these many days to this day but have carefully kept the charge of the Lord your God. read more.
But now the Lord your God has given rest to your brethren, as He promised them; so now go, return to your homes in the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the [east] side of the Jordan. But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you: to love the Lord your God and to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and to cling to and unite with Him and to serve Him with all your heart and soul [your very life]. So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their homes.


In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of [the tribe of] Naphtali, and he carried the people captive to Assyria.

So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul, king of Assyria, [that is,] the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away into exile—the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh—and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river Gozan, [where they remain] to this day.


And when they came to the region of the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar great to behold. And the [other] Israelites heard it said, Behold, the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar at the edge of the land of Canaan in the region [west] of the Jordan in the passage [belonging to us], the Israelites. When the Israelites heard of it, the whole congregation of the sons of Israel gathered at Shiloh to make war on them. read more.
And the [other] Israelites sent to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, And with him ten chiefs, one from each of the tribal families of Israel; and each one was a head of a father's house among the clans of Israel. And they came to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and they said to them, The whole congregation of the Lord says, What trespass is this that you have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the Lord, in that you have built yourselves an altar to rebel this day against the Lord? Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed even now, although there came a plague [in which 24,000 died] in the congregation of the Lord, That you must turn away this day from following the Lord? The result will be, since you rebel today against the Lord, that tomorrow He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. But now, if your land is unclean, pass over into the Lord's land, where the Lord's tabernacle resides, and take for yourselves a possession among us. But do not rebel against the Lord or rebel against us by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Lord our God. Did not Achan son of Zerah commit a trespass in the matter of taking accursed things [devoted to destruction] and wrath fall on all the congregation of Israel? And he did not perish alone in his perversity and iniquity. Then the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh said to the heads of the clans of Israel, The Mighty One, God, the Lord! The Mighty One, God, the Lord! He knows, and let Israel itself know! If it was in rebellion or in transgression against the Lord, spare us not today. If we have built us an altar to turn away from following the Lord, or if we did so to offer on it burnt offerings or cereal offerings or peace offerings, may the Lord Himself take vengeance. No! But we did it for fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? For the Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you Reubenites and Gadites; you have no part in the Lord. So your children might make our children cease from fearing the Lord. So we said, Let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice, But to be a witness between us and you and between the generations after us, that we will perform the service of the Lord before Him with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings; lest your children say to our children in time to come, You have no portion in the Lord. So we thought, if that should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we can reply, Behold the copy of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings nor for sacrifices, but to be a witness between us and you. Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord and turn away this day from following the Lord to build an altar for burnt offerings, for cereal offerings, or for sacrifices, besides the altar of the Lord our God that is before His tabernacle. And when Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation and heads of the clans of Israel who were with him heard the words that the Reubenites, Gadites, and Manassites spoke, it pleased them. Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, said to the Reubenites, Gadites, and Manassites, Today we know the Lord is among us, because you have not committed this trespass and treachery against the Lord; now you have saved the Israelites from the Lord's hand. Then Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, and the chiefs returned from the Reubenites and Gadites in the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the [other] Israelites, and brought back word to them. The report pleased the Israelites and they blessed God; and they spoke no more of going to war against them to destroy the land in which the Reubenites and Gadites dwelt. The Reubenites and Gadites called the altar Ed [witness], saying, It shall be: A Witness Between Us that the Lord is God.


The sons of Reuben, Israel's firstborn, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of names, head by head, every male from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go to war: Those of the tribe of Reuben numbered 46,500.


And the princes of Issachar came with Deborah, and Issachar was faithful to Barak; into the valley they rushed forth at his heels. [But] among the clans of Reuben were great searchings of heart. Why [Reuben] did you linger among the sheepfolds listening to the piping for the flocks? Among the clans of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.


Next the standard of the camp of the sons of Reuben, according to their armies, moved out, with Elizur the son of Shedeur [commander] over its army,


These are the families (clans) of the Reubenites; and those who were numbered of them were 43,730.


“On the south side shall be the standard of the camp of Reuben, by their armies; and Elizur the son of Shedeur shall lead the sons of Reuben,