Nebo and Baal Meon (their names being changed) and Shibmah; and they gave other names to the cities which they built.
Parallel translations
- WEB Nebo, and Baal Meon, (their names being changed), and Sibmah. They gave other names to the cities which they built.
- KJV And Nebo, and Baalmeon, (their names being changed,) and Shibmah: and gave other names unto the cities which they builded.
- BSB as well as Nebo and Baal-meon (whose names were changed), and Sibmah. And they renamed the cities they rebuilt.
- NASB Nebo, and Baal-meon—their names being changed—and Sibmah, and they gave other names to the cities which they built.
- NLT Nebo, Baal-meon, and Sibmah. They changed the names of some of the towns they conquered and rebuilt.
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
Reuben rebuilds Nebo, Baal Meon, and Sibmah, renaming some cities whose names carried pagan associations. They reshape the land's identity around their own settlement.
Overview
Reuben rebuilds further cities and changes certain names, likely because places like Nebo and Baal Meon bore the names of pagan deities. The renaming may reflect a desire to distance themselves from Canaanite idolatry. While the text notes this only briefly, it hints at the call of God's people to reject false gods and claim the land for the worship of the LORD alone.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Isa 46:1Bel bows down. Nebo stoops. Their idols are carried by animals, and on the livestock. The things that you carried around are heavy loads, a burden for the weary.
- Num 32:3“Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon,
- Exod 23:13“Be careful to do all things that I have said to you; and don’t invoke the name of other gods or even let them be heard out of your mouth.
- Josh 23:7that you not come among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow down yourselves to them;
- Gen 26:18Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father. For the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. He called their names after the names by which his father had called them.
- Num 22:41In the morning, Balak took Balaam, and brought him up into the high places of Baal; and he saw from there part of the people.
- Ps 16:4Their sorrows shall be multiplied who give gifts to another god. Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take their names on my lips.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 32:38 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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