Joshua 13:23
in Joshua 13And the border of the Reubenites was the bank of the Jordan. This was the inheritance of the clans of the Reubenites, including the cities and villages.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the border of the children of Reuben was the Jordan, and the border thereof. This was the inheritance of the children of Reuben according to their families, the cities and the villages thereof.
KJV
And the border of the children of Reuben was Jordan, and the border thereof. This was the inheritance of the children of Reuben after their families, the cities and the villages thereof.
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This verse in Joshua 13
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThe cities and the villages - By villages, חצרים chatserim, it is likely that moveable villages or tents are meant, such as are in use among the Bedouin Arabs; places where they were accustomed to feed and pen their cattle.
This site's exposition
what Moses had given to the clans of the tribe of Reuben
on Joshua 13:15-23
Verse 22 is the only verse that calls Balaam a diviner, and it sets his death among the slain of Midian, closing Numbers 31:8. Heshbon had been Moab's before Sihon took it at Numbers 21:26, and Isaiah 16:8 and Jeremiah 48 find Moab holding these towns again.
This site's exposition
the border of the Reubenites was the bank of the Jordan
John Gill traces Reuben's line from Aroer on the Arnon to the Jordan on the west. Adam Clarke reads the villages as open settlements where herds were fed and penned, much like Bedouin encampments. That suits herdsmen, as Numbers 32:1 describes Reuben and Gad.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And the border of the children of Reuben was Jordan, and the border thereof,.... As their border eastward was Aroer on the river Arnon, so their border westward was the river Jordan: this was the inheritance of the children of Reuben, after their families, the cities and the villages thereof; which Moses gave them on the other side Jordan; and next follow an account of the inheritance of the tribe of Gad in those parts.
If they had been appointed to a lot entire by themselves, Moses would have served them first, not because it was his own tribe, but because it was God's; but they must be provided for in another manner; their habitations must be scattered in all the tribes, and their maintenance brought out of all the tribes, and God himself was the portion both of their inheritance and of their cup, Deut. x.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיְהִ֗י | vayhi | and it was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| גְּבוּל֙ | gevul | [the] border of | H1366 → | 240 times |
| בְּנֵ֣י | benei | [the] descendants of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| רְאוּבֵ֔ן | reuven | Reuben | H7205 → | 72 times |
| הַיַּרְדֵּ֖ן | haiyarden | the Jordan | H3383 → | 182 times |
| וּגְב֑וּל | ugevul | and a territory | H1366 → | 240 times |
| זֹ֣את | zot | this | H2063 → | 603 times |
| נַחֲלַ֤ת | nachalat | [was] [the] inheritance of | H5159 → | 222 times |
| בְּנֵֽי־ | benei- | [the] descendants of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| רְאוּבֵן֙ | reuven | Reuben | H7205 → | 72 times |
| לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֔ם | lemishpechotam | to clans their | H4940 → | 303 times |
| הֶעָרִ֖ים | hearim | the cities | H5892 → | 1090 times |
| וְחַצְרֵיהֶֽן׃ פ | vechatzreihen | and villages their | H2691 → | 191 times |
וַיְהִ֗יand it was
vayhiH1961 →3559 times
גְּבוּל֙[the] border of
gevulH1366 →240 times
בְּנֵ֣י[the] descendants of
beneiH1121 →4930 times
רְאוּבֵ֔ןReuben
reuvenH7205 →72 times
הַיַּרְדֵּ֖ןthe Jordan
haiyardenH3383 →182 times
וּגְב֑וּלand a territory
ugevulH1366 →240 times
זֹ֣אתthis
zotH2063 →603 times
נַחֲלַ֤ת[was] [the] inheritance of
nachalatH5159 →222 times
בְּנֵֽי־[the] descendants of
benei-H1121 →4930 times
רְאוּבֵן֙Reuben
reuvenH7205 →72 times
לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֔םto clans their
lemishpechotamH4940 →303 times
הֶעָרִ֖יםthe cities
hearimH5892 →1090 times
וְחַצְרֵיהֶֽן׃ פand villages their
vechatzreihenH2691 →191 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
About Joshua
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.