Thematic Bible: The tribe of Reuben


Thematic Bible



In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser the king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel-Beth-Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, the Gilead, the Galilee, and all the land of Naphtali; then he deported them to Assyria.

Beerah his son, a leader of the Reubenites, whom Tiglath-Pilneser king of Assyria deported into exile.

So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul, king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tiglath-Pilneser, king of Assyria, and he took them [into exile], namely, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. And he brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river Gozan, until this day.


And in the days of Saul they made war against the Hagrites, and they fell into their hand. And they lived in their tents in all the region east of Gilead.

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 they made war against the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab. And they were helped against them, and the Hagrites and all who [were] with them were given into their hand, for they cried out to God in the battle, and he responded to their prayer because they trusted in him. read more.
And they captured their livestock: fifty thousand of their camels; two hundred and fifty thousand sheep; two thousand donkeys; and one hundred thousand men alive. For many [were] slain because the war was of God. And they lived under them until the exile.


And over the tribes of Israel, for the Reubenites: the commander [was] Eliezer the son of Zikri. For the Simeonites: Shephatiah the son of Maacah.

And his brothers, sons of ability, [were] two thousand seven hundred heads of the {families}, and King David appointed them over the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, for every matter of God and matter of the king.


The descendants of Reuben and the descendants of Gad had a very large number of livestock. And they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and behold it [was] a place for livestock. The descendants of Gad and the descendants of Reuben came, and they said to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the community, saying, "Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon, read more.
the land that Yahweh struck before the community of Israel, [is] a land of livestock, and your servants have livestock." They said, "If we have found favor in {your sight}, let this land be given to your servants as property; do not lead us [across] the Jordan." But Moses said to the descendants of Gad and to the descendants of Reuben, "Will your brothers go to war while you yourselves live here? Why are you discouraging the hearts of the {Israelites} from crossing into the land that Yahweh gave to them? This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land. When they went up to the valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the {Israelites} so that they did not come to the land that Yahweh gave to them. So {Yahweh's anger burned} on that day, and he swore an oath, saying, 'The men who went up from Egypt, from {those twenty years old} and above, will not see the land that I swore with an oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob because they have not wholly followed me, except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, because they followed Yahweh wholly.' And {Yahweh became angry}, and he made them wander in the desert forty years until the entire generation who did evil in the {sight of Yahweh} {had died}. Behold, you stand in the place of your fathers, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more {Yahweh's fierce anger} against Israel. If you turn from following him, he will again abandon them in the wilderness, and you would have destroyed all these people." They came near to him and said, "We will build sheep pens here for [the] flock of our livestock and cities for our little children; but we ourselves will become armed [and] ready before the {Israelites} until we have brought them to their place, and our little children will live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return to our houses until the {Israelites} each obtain their inheritance for themselves. For we will not take possession with them from across the Jordan and beyond because our inheritance has come to us from across the Jordan to the east." So Moses said to them, "If you do this thing, if you arm yourselves {before} Yahweh for the war, and everyone of you armed cross the Jordan {before} Yahweh until he has driven out his enemies from before him, and the land is subdued {before} Yahweh, then afterward you will return and be free of obligation from Yahweh and from Israel, and this land will be your property {before} Yahweh. But if you do not do so, behold, you have sinned against Yahweh, and know that your sin will find you. Build for yourselves cities for your little children and sheep pens for your flocks; what has gone out from your mouth you will do." So the descendants of Gad and the descendants of Reuben said to Moses, saying, "Your servants will do just as my lord commands. Our little children, our wives, our livestock, and all of our animals {will remain} in the cities of Gilead, but your servants, everyone who is armed for battle, will cross over {before} Yahweh to the war, just as my lord says." So Moses commanded them, Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the {families} of the tribes of the {Israelites}. Moses said to them, "If the descendants of Gad and the descendants of Reuben, everyone who is armed for the war, cross over the Jordan {before} Yahweh, and the land is subdued before you, you will give them the land of Gilead as property. But if they will not cross over with you armed, they will acquire land in your midst in Canaan." The descendants of Gad and the descendants of Reuben answered and said, "What Yahweh has commanded your servants, we will do. We ourselves will cross over armed {before} Yahweh to the land of Canaan, and the property of our inheritance [will remain] with us beyond the Jordan." So Moses gave to them, to the descendants of Gad and the descendants of Reuben, and to half of the tribe of Joseph's son Manasseh, the kingdom of Sihon the king of Amorites and the kingdom of Og the king of the Bashan, the land with its cities [and their] territories, the cities of the surrounding land.

"And I charged you [all] at that time [when I] said, "Yahweh has given you--to [all of] you--this land to possess. All the {warriors} shall cross over, ready to fight, before your brothers, the {Israelites}. Only your wives and your little children and your livestock (I know that {you have much livestock}) must stay in your towns that I have given you, until Yahweh shall give rest to your brothers as [he did] to you, and also they take possession [of] the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to them beyond the Jordan; then they may return, each [one] to his possession that I have given to them.


Unstable as water, you shall not excel [any longer], for you went up upon the bed of your father, then defiled [it]. You went up upon my couch!

"May Reuben live, and may he not die, {and let his number not be few}."


The children of Pallu: Eliab. The children of Eliab: Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. These [are the same] Dathan and Abiram who [were] appointed of the community, who rebelled against Moses and Aaron in the company of Korah, when they rebelled against Yahweh,

Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, the descendants of Reuben: [of] Hanoch, the clan of the Hanochites; of Pallu, the clan of the Palluites; of Hezron, the clan of the Hezronites; of Carmi, the clan of the Carmites.


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

The children of Eliab: Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. These [are the same] Dathan and Abiram who [were] appointed of the community, who rebelled against Moses and Aaron in the company of Korah, when they rebelled against Yahweh, and the land opened its mouth and swallowed them with Korah, when that company died, when the fire consumed two hundred and fifty men, and they were a sign.


And from beyond the Jordan, from the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, with all [their] weapons of war for battle: one hundred and twenty thousand. All these [were] men of war arrayed in battle line {with a whole heart}. They came to Hebron to make David king over all Israel. Likewise, all the rest of Israel [had] one heart to make David king.


And to the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave, from Gilead up to the wadi of Arnon, the middle of the wadi [as a] boundary and up to the Jabbok {River}, the boundary of the {Ammonites}. And the {Jordan Valley} [with] the Jordan [River as its] boundary, from Kinnereth up to the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, [with] the slopes of Pisgah toward the east.


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


And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for [delivering] the curse: Reuben, Gad and Asher and Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali.


In those days, Yahweh began to reduce Israel, so Hazael defeated them in every territory of Israel, from the Jordan eastward: all of the land of Gilead, the Gadites, the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer which [is] on the Wadi Arnon and Gilead and Bashan.


The descendants of Reuben rebuilt Heshbon, Elealeh, and Kiriathaim, and Nebo, Baal Meon (their names [were] changed), and Sibmah, and {they renamed} the cities that they rebuilt.


And they came to the region of the Jordan that [is] in the land of Canaan, and the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar on the Jordan, {a large and imposing altar}. And the {Israelites} heard [it] said that the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had built an altar next to the land of Canaan, in the region of the Jordan, on the side [belonging to] the {Israelites}. When the {Israelites} heard [of it], the whole congregation of the {Israelites} gathered [at] Shiloh to go up against them for battle. read more.
And the {Israelites} sent to the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, Phinehas the priest son of Eleazar, and ten leaders with him, {one leader for each} {family} from each of the tribes of Israel; and each one [was] the head of {his family} among the clans of Israel. They came to the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying, "Thus says all the congregation of Yahweh: 'What [is] this treachery that you have committed against the God of Israel by turning away today from following Yahweh, by building for yourselves an altar to rebel today against Yahweh? [Is] not the sin of Peor {enough for us}, from which we have not cleansed ourselves today, and for which a plague came to the congregation of Yahweh, that you must turn today from following Yahweh? [If] you rebel today against Yahweh, tomorrow he will be angry with all of the congregation of Israel; if, however, the land of your property [is] unclean, cross [over] to the land of Yahweh's property, where Yahweh's tabernacle resides, and take possession among us. But you must not rebel against Yahweh or against us by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of Yahweh our God. Did not Achan son of Zerah commit treachery with devoted things, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? {And he alone} did not perish because of his iniquity.'" And the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh spoke with the heads of the clans of Israel, "Yahweh, God of gods! Yahweh, God of gods knows. And let Israel itself know, if [it was] in rebellion or treachery against Yahweh, do not spare us this day for building for ourselves an altar to turn away from Yahweh, or if [it was] to offer burnt offerings, grain offerings, or fellowship offerings on it, may Yahweh himself take vengeance. But in fact, we have done this because of anxiety, because of a reason, saying, 'In the future your children may say to our children, '{What is the relationship between you and Yahweh the God of Israel}? Yahweh has made the Jordan a border between us and you, the descendants of Reuben and Gad; you have no portion in Yahweh.' So your children may put an end to our children worshiping Yahweh. So we said, 'Let us build immediately for ourselves an altar, not for burnt offerings or for sacrifices; instead, it [is] a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us for performing the serving of Yahweh in his presence with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and fellowship offerings; so that your children may not say in the future to our children, "You have no portion in Yahweh." ' And we thought, if they say to us and to our children in the future, we can say, 'Look at this replica of the altar of Yahweh, which our ancestors made, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices; rather, it [is] a witness between us and you.' Far be it from us to rebel against Yahweh, to turn today from following Yahweh, to build an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings, or sacrifices, instead of the altar of Yahweh our God that [is] before his tabernacle."


On the fourth day Elizur son of Shedeur, leader of the descendants of Reuben: his offering [was] one silver plate--its weight one hundred and thirty [shekels]--[and] one silver bowl for drinking [weighing] seventy shekels according to the sanctuary shekel, {both of them} filled [with] finely milled flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; {one golden dish weighing ten shekels} filled [with] incense; read more.
one {young} bull, one ram, a male lamb {in its first year} as a burnt offering; one he-goat as a sin offering; and for the sacrifice of the fellowship offering, two cattle, five rams, five he-goats, [and] five male lambs {in their first year}. This [was] the offering of Elizur son of Shedeur.


The descendants of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, their genealogies according to their clans, according to {their families}, according to [the] number of names, every male individually from {twenty years old} and above, everyone who [is able] to go to war: those who were counted from the tribe of Reuben were forty-six thousand five hundred.


And the chiefs in Issachar [were] with Deborah; and Issachar likewise [was with] Barak; into the valley {he was sent to get him from behind}. Among the clans of Reuben [were] great {decisions of the heart}. Why do you sit among the sheepfolds, to hear [the] calling sounds of the herds? For the clans of Reuben, [there were] great searchings of the heart.


And the standard of the camp of Reuben according to their divisions; Elizur son of Shedeur [was] over their division.


Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and he said to them, "You have observed all that Moses Yahweh's servant commanded you, and you have listened to my voice in all that I have commanded you; you have not forsaken your kinsmen these many days, up to this day, and you have observed the obligation of the command of Yahweh your God. read more.
So then, Yahweh your God has given rest to your kinsmen, just as he promised them; so then, turn and go to your tents to the land of your possession, which Moses Yahweh's servant gave to you beyond the Jordan. Only be very careful to observe the commandment and law that Moses Yahweh's servant commanded you, to love Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, to hold fast to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul." And Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents. And to the half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given [a possession] in Bashan, but to the other half Joshua had given [a possession] with their kinsmen beyond the Jordan to the west; and when Joshua sent them to their tents and blessed them, he said to them, "Return to your tents with much wealth, and with very much livestock, with silver, gold, copper, iron, and with very much clothing; divide the war-booty of your enemies with your kinsmen." So the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned [home] and departed with the {Israelites} at Shiloh, which [is] in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead to the land of their possession, which they had acquired {according to the command of Yahweh} through the hand of Moses.


Then Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she called his name Reuben, for she said, "Because Yahweh has noticed my misery, that I [am] unloved. Now my husband will love me."


And these [are] their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur;


These [are] the clans of the Reubenites, and the ones counted of them were forty-three thousand seven hundred and thirty.


"The standard of the camp of Reuben [will be] to the south according to their divisions. The leader of the descendants [will be] Elizur son of Shedeur.


And these [are] the names of the men who will {assist you}: from Reuben, Elizur son of Shedeur;