Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 3:12
So at that time we took possession of this land. To the Reubenites and Gadites I gave the land beyond Aroer along the Arnon Valley, and half the hill country of Gilead, along with its cities.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites on the plains of Moab, recounting the allocation of Transjordan territory immediately after the defeat of Og. He specifies the exact boundaries given to the tribes of Reuben and Gad.
The words — The text uses יָרַשְׁנוּ (ya.Rash.nu) to declare "we took possession of," paired with בָּ/עֵת הַ/הִ֑וא (ba./'Et ha./Hiv') meaning "at that time." These terms anchor the land distribution to a specific historical moment of conquest.
The thread — This territorial boundary reappears in Deuteronomy 2:36 and Deuteronomy 4:48 as a fixed marker of Israel's eastern extent. Numbers 32:32 records the tribes' pledge to cross over armed before claiming this inheritance.
Why it lands — The verse requires readers to recognize that divine conquest and human inheritance are recorded as concrete historical events. It demands acknowledgment of God's precise fulfillment of promises through specific geographic allocations.
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 this land, which we possessed at that time, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, and half mount Gilead, and the cities thereof, gave I unto the Reubenites and to the Gadites.
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.
- Numbers 32:32 We will cross over into the land of Canaan armed before the LORD, that we may have our inheritance on this side of the Jordan.”
- Deuteronomy 4:48 extending from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Siyon (that is, Hermon),
- Joshua 12:2 Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. He ruled from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along the middle of the valley, up to the Jabbok River (the border of the Ammonites), that is, half of Gilead,
- Joshua 13:8 The other half of Manasseh, along with the Reubenites and Gadites, had received the inheritance Moses had given them beyond the Jordan to the east, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had assigned to them:
- 2 Kings 10:33 from the Jordan eastward through all the land of Gilead (the region of Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh), and from Aroer by the Arnon Valley through Gilead to Bashan.