Bible Strands
2 Samuel 24:5
They crossed the Jordan and camped near Aroer, south of the town in the middle of the valley, and proceeded toward Gad and Jazer.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joab and the army commanders execute the king’s order to register Israel’s troops, moving from the royal presence into the field to conduct the census.
The words — וַ/יַּעַבְר֖וּ (va/i.ya.'av.Ru) means "and they passed over," describing the initial crossing of the Jordan River before encamping.
The thread — The location Aroer appears in Deuteronomy 2:36, Joshua 13:9, and Joshua 13:16 as a territorial marker situated on the rim of the Arnon Valley.
Why it lands — The text records a military census route without commentary, requiring the reader to observe the precise geography and administrative scope of the operation before the narrative shifts to divine judgment.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And they passed over Jordan, and pitched in Aroer, on the right side of the city that lieth in the midst of the river of Gad, and toward Jazer:
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 2:36 From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the valley, even as far as Gilead, not one city had walls too high for us. The LORD our God gave us all of them.
- Joshua 13:9 The area from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the middle of the valley, the whole plateau of Medeba as far as Dibon,
- Joshua 13:16 The territory from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the middle of the valley, to the whole plateau beyond Medeba,
- Numbers 21:32 After Moses had sent spies to Jazer, Israel captured its villages and drove out the Amorites who were there.
- Numbers 32:1 Now the Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, surveyed the lands of Jazer and Gilead, and they saw that the region was suitable for livestock.
- Numbers 32:3 “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon,
- Numbers 32:35 Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah,
- 1 Samuel 30:28 to those in Aroer, Siphmoth, and Eshtemoa;
- Isaiah 16:8 For the fields of Heshbon have withered, along with the grapevines of Sibmah. The rulers of the nations have trampled its choicest vines, which had reached as far as Jazer and spread toward the desert. Their shoots had spread out and passed over the sea.
- Isaiah 17:2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken; they will be left to the flocks, which will lie down with no one to fear.