Bible Strands
Joshua 21:39
Heshbon, and Jazer—four cities in all, together with their pasturelands.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joshua records the completion of the Levitical city allotments, specifying the final distribution from the tribe of Gad to the Kohathite clans. This occurs at the conclusion of the territorial division following the conquest of Canaan.
The words — The text lists חֶשְׁבּוֹן (cheshbon) and יַעְזֵר (ya'zer) as named urban centers. It pairs each with מִגְרָשׁוֹתָם (migra'shoteham), literally "their pasturelands," designating the open grazing territory attached to the cities.
The thread — These locations appear in Numbers 32:3 as part of the region surveyed by the Reubenites and Gadites for their herds. Numbers 21:26 also identifies Heshbon as the former capital of Sihon the Amorite.
Why it lands — The verse requires tracking how conquered territory is systematically allocated to fulfill the Levitical provision. It asks the reader to recognize that tribal inheritance explicitly includes both urban centers and functional agricultural land.
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
Heshbon with her suburbs, Jazer with her suburbs; four cities in all.
Cross-references
- Numbers 21:26 Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land as far as the Arnon.
- 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,
- Numbers 32:37 The Reubenites built up Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim,
- Joshua 13:17 to Heshbon and all its cities on the plateau, including Dibon, Bamoth-baal, Beth-baal-meon,
- Joshua 13:21 all the cities of the plateau and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon until Moses killed him and the chiefs of Midian (Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba), the princes of Sihon who lived in the land.
- 1 Chronicles 6:81 Heshbon, and Jazer, together with their pasturelands.
- 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.
- Jeremiah 48:32 I will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah, more than I weep for Jazer. Your tendrils have extended to the sea; they reach even to Jazer. The destroyer has descended on your summer fruit and grape harvest.