Bible Strands
Numbers 32:22
then when the land is subdued before the LORD, you may return and be free of obligation to the LORD and to Israel. And this land will belong to you as a possession before the LORD.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Reubenites and Gadites at the plains of Moab, responding to their request to settle east of the Jordan. He establishes the explicit condition that their eastern inheritance is contingent upon completing the conquest of Canaan.
The words — תָּשֻׁ֔בוּ (ta.Shu.vu) means "you will return," and נְקִיִּ֛ים (ne.ki.Yim) translates literally as "free" or "clean." These terms frame the return home as contingent upon fulfilling the military condition.
The thread — The conditional return to eastern territory reappears in Joshua 22:4 and Joshua 22:9, where the tribes are formally dismissed after the conquest. Deuteronomy 3:20 records the same stipulation regarding the LORD granting rest to the other tribes before their departure.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that covenantal privilege requires prior covenantal action. It places territorial possession directly under the LORD's command rather than human entitlement.
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 the land be subdued before the Lord: then afterward ye shall return, and be guiltless before the Lord, and before Israel; and this land shall be your possession before the Lord.
Cross-references
- Joshua 22:4 And now that the LORD your God has given your brothers rest as He promised them, you may return to your homes in the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you across the Jordan.
- Joshua 22:9 So the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh in the land of Canaan to return to their own land of Gilead, which they had acquired according to the command of the LORD through Moses.
- Deuteronomy 3:20 until the LORD gives rest to your brothers as He has to you, and they too have taken possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving them across the Jordan. Then each of you may return to the possession I have given you.”
- Joshua 1:15 until the LORD gives them rest as He has done for you, and your brothers also possess the land that the LORD your God is giving them. Then you may return to the land of your inheritance and take possession of that which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you on the east side of the Jordan.”
- 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:
- 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.
- Joshua 2:19 If anyone goes out the door of your house into the street, his blood will be on his own head, and we will be innocent. But if a hand is laid on anyone with you in the house, his blood will be on our heads.
- Joshua 10:30 And the LORD also delivered that city and its king into the hand of Israel, and Joshua put all the people to the sword, leaving no survivors. And he did to the king of Libnah as he had done to the king of Jericho.
- Joshua 10:42 And because the LORD, the God of Israel, fought for Israel, Joshua captured all these kings and their land in one campaign.
- Joshua 11:23 So Joshua took the entire land, in keeping with all that the LORD had spoken to Moses. And Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to the allotments to their tribes. Then the land had rest from war.