Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 3:16
and to the Reubenites and Gadites I gave the territory from Gilead to the Arnon Valley (the middle of the valley was the border) and up to the Jabbok River, the border of the Ammonites.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites on the plains of Moab, concluding the division of conquered eastern territory after granting Gilead to Machir.
The words — The Hebrew text highlights נָתַתִּי (na.Ta.ti, "I gave") and נַחַל אַרְנֹן (Na.chal 'ar.Non, "wadi of Arnon") to mark the divine act of allocation and the specific geographical boundary.
The thread — The Arnon and Jabbok rivers function as recurring territorial markers, appearing in Numbers 21:24 as the extent of Israel’s advance and in Deuteronomy 2:37 as the limit of their march.
Why it lands — The passage requires readers to recognize that tribal inheritance follows precise, divinely established borders rather than human expansion.
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 unto the Reubenites and unto the Gadites I gave from Gilead even unto the river Arnon half the valley, and the border even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon;
Cross-references
- Numbers 21:24 And Israel put him to the sword and took possession of his land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok—but only up to the border of the Ammonites, because it was fortified.
- Deuteronomy 2:37 But you did not go near the land of the Ammonites, or the land along the banks of the Jabbok River, or the cities of the hill country, or any place that the LORD our God had forbidden.
- 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.
- Genesis 32:22 During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
- Numbers 32:33 So Moses gave to the Gadites, to the Reubenites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan—the land including its cities and the territory surrounding them.
- 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,