For we will not inherit with them on yonder side Jordan, or forward; because our inheritance is fallen to us on this side Jordan eastward.
Parallel translations
- WEB For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan, and forward; because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan eastward.”
- BSB Yet we will not have an inheritance with them across the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on the east side of the Jordan.”
- NKJV For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has fallen to us on this eastern side of the Jordan.”
- NASB But we will not have an inheritance with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan toward the east.”
- NLT But we do not claim any of the land on the other side of the Jordan. We would rather live here on the east side and accept this as our grant of land.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
They explain they will not claim land in Canaan because their inheritance lies east of the Jordan. They accept a distinct portion while still sharing the fight.
Overview
Reuben and Gad clarify that their inheritance has fallen to them on the east side of the Jordan, so they seek no share across the river. Their request is for a defined possession, not an escape from duty. The arrangement shows that diversity of portion within God's people need not undermine common cause, as each receives what God apportions while serving the whole.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Josh 13:8With 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;
- Num 34:15The two tribes and the half tribe have received their inheritance on this side Jordan near Jericho eastward, toward the sunrising.
- Josh 12:1–6Now these are the kings of the land, which the children of Israel smote, and possessed their land on the other side Jordan toward the rising of the sun, from the river Arnon unto mount Hermon, and all the plain on the east:
- Josh 1:14–15Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valour, and help them;
- 2 Kgs 10:32–33In those days the LORD began to cut Israel short: and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel;
- 2 Kgs 15:29In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abelbethmaachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.
- 1 Chr 5:25–26And they transgressed against the God of their fathers, and went a whoring after the gods of the people of the land, whom God destroyed before them.
- Prov 20:21An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed.
- Gen 14:12And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.
- Num 32:32–33We will pass over armed before the LORD into the land of Canaan, that the possession of our inheritance on this side Jordan may be ours.
- Gen 13:10–12And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 32:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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