1The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel — for he was the firstborn, but because he defiled his father’s bed his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel, so that he was not to be enrolled by genealogy according to the birthright.
2For Judah prevailed over his brothers, and a ruler came from him, though the birthright belonged to Joseph —
3the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi.
4The sons of Joel: Shemaiah his son, Gog his son, Shimei his son,
5Micah his son, Reaiah his son, Baal his son,
6Beerah his son, whom Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria carried into exile; he was a leader of the Reubenites.
7And his kinsmen by their clans, when they were enrolled by their genealogies: the chief, Jeiel, and Zechariah,
8and Bela son of Azaz, son of Shema, son of Joel. He lived in Aroer, and as far as Nebo and Baal-meon.
9And to the east he lived as far as the edge of the wilderness that reaches from the Euphrates River, because their livestock had multiplied in the land of Gilead.
10In the days of Saul they waged war against the Hagrites, who fell into their hand, and they lived in their tents throughout the whole region east of Gilead.
11And the sons of Gad lived opposite them in the land of Bashan as far as Salecah:
12Joel the chief, and Shapham the second, and Janai and Shaphat in Bashan.
13And their kinsmen by their fathers’ houses: Michael, Meshullam, Sheba, Jorai, Jacan, Zia, and Eber — seven.
14These were the sons of Abihail son of Huri, son of Jaroah, son of Gilead, son of Michael, son of Jeshishai, son of Jahdo, son of Buz.
15Ahi son of Abdiel, son of Guni, was head of their fathers’ house.
16And they lived in Gilead, in Bashan and its towns, and in all the pasturelands of Sharon as far as their limits.
17All of them were enrolled by genealogy in the days of Jotham king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam king of Israel.
18The sons of Reuben and the Gadites and half the tribe of Manasseh — men of valor, men bearing shield and sword and drawing the bow, trained for war — numbered forty-four thousand seven hundred and sixty who went out to the army.
19They waged war against the Hagrites, and Jetur, and Naphish, and Nodab.
20And they were helped against them, and the Hagrites and all who were with them were given into their hand, for they cried out to God in the battle, and he was entreated by them because they trusted in him.
21And they captured their livestock: their camels, fifty thousand, and sheep, two hundred and fifty thousand, and donkeys, two thousand, and a hundred thousand human lives.
22For many fell slain, because the battle was from God; and they lived in their place until the exile.
23And the sons of the half-tribe of Manasseh lived in the land, from Bashan to Baal-hermon, Senir, and Mount Hermon; they were numerous.
24And these were the heads of their fathers’ houses: Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel — men who were mighty warriors, men of renown, heads of their fathers’ houses.
25But they acted unfaithfully against the God of their fathers, and they whored after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.
26So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, and he carried them into exile — the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh — and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river Gozan, to this day.
Open in the interactive reader →