Those who were registered from the tribe of Reuben totaled 46,500.

The tribe of Simeon will camp next to Reuben. The tribal chief of Simeon’s descendants is Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.

These were their names: From the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur.

The Transjordan Tribes

The descendants of Reuben and Gad had very large flocks and herds of livestock. They saw that the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead was ideal for livestock.

Moses gave the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan to the descendants of Gad, to the descendants of Reuben, and to half of the tribe descended from Manasseh, the son of Joseph—the land including its cities with the territories surrounding them.

The tribe of Reuben’s descendants according to their fathers’ houses and the tribe of Gad’s descendants according to their fathers’ houses have already received their possession. Also half of the tribe of Manasseh has received its possession.

We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half of the tribe of Manasseh.

To the Reubenites and the Gadites and to half of the tribe of Manasseh Joshua said,

The descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, arranged by their military units, had crossed over ahead of the people of Israel, just as Moses had commanded them,

Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the people of Israel struck them down. Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave this land east of the Jordan as a possession to the tribe of Reuben, to the tribe of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh.

Division of the Transjordan

Together with the other half tribe of Manasseh, the Reubenites and Gadites had already received their inheritance from Moses in the area east of the Jordan, just as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had assigned it to them.

Reuben

Moses gave land to the tribe of the descendants of Reuben according to their clans.

But the Levites have no portion in your midst because the priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance, and Gad, Reuben, and the half tribe of Manasseh have already received their inheritance in the region to the east, on the other side of the Jordan, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave to them.”

Also in the region on the east side of the Jordan of Jericho, they designated Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh.

The descendants of Merari according to their clans received twelve cities from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.

From the tribe of Reuben: Bezer and its pasturelands, Jahzah and its pasturelands,

Dismissal of the Transjordan Tribes

Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh.

So the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh set out to return home. They left the people of Israel at Shiloh in the land of Canaan to travel to the land of Gilead, to the land assigned as their possession, which they had acquired there by the word of the Lord through Moses.

The Threat of War

When they came to Geliloth by the Jordan, which is in the land of Canaan, the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, a conspicuously large altar.

The people of Israel heard about it and said, “See, the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh have built the altar on the frontier of the land of Canaan at Geliloth of the Jordan, on the side of the river that belongs to the people of Israel.”

Then the people of Israel sent the priest Phinehas son of Eleazar to the people of Reuben, to the people of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead.

They came to the people of Reuben, to the people of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them. They said,

The Response of the Tribes

Then the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh responded to the heads of the divisions of Israel:

War Avoided

Phinehas the priest heard this, as did the tribal leaders of the community and the heads of the divisions of the tribes of Israel who were with him. They heard the words that the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the people of Manasseh spoke, and they were pleased.

The Transjordan TribesThe Tribe of Reuben

The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel: (Though Reuben was the firstborn, because he defiled his father’s bed, his rights as firstborn were given to the sons of Israel’s son Joseph. So Reuben is not treated as firstborn in the genealogical records.