² tn Or “the descendant of Reuben”; Heb “son of Reuben.”

¹ tn Heb “assigned to the sons of Reuben.”

¹ tn Heb “and Reuben said to them.”

² tc The MT reading is plural (“the sons of Reuben”); the Smr and LXX have the singular (“the son of Reuben”).

² sn The verbs translated shed, throw, and lay sound alike in Hebrew; the repetition of similar sounds draws attention to Reuben’s words.

¹ tn Heb “the sons of Reuben, and the sons of Gad, and the sons of Manasseh.”

¹ tn Heb “the sons of Reuben, and the sons of Gad, and the sons of Manasseh.”

² sn The name Reuben (רְאוּבֵן, r^eʾuven) means “look, a son.”

¹ tn Heb “and look, Joseph was not in the cistern.” By the use of וְהִנֵּה (v^ehinneh, “and look”), the narrator invites the reader to see the situation through Reuben’s eyes.

¹ tn Heb “This is the inheritance of the sons of Reuben by their clans, the cities and their towns.”

¹ tn Here and throughout the line is literally “[under] the standard of the camp of Reuben…according to their divisions.”

¹ sn Reuben’s act of having sexual relations with Bilhah probably had other purposes than merely satisfying his sexual desire. By having sex with Bilhah, Reuben (Leah’s oldest son) would have prevented Bilhah from succeeding Rachel as the favorite wife, and by sleeping with his father’s concubine he would also be attempting to take over leadership of the clan—something Absalom foolishly attempted later on in Israel’s history (2 Sam 16:21-22).

² sn Jahaz. This is probably Khirbet el-Medeiyineh. See J. Dearman, “The Levitical Cities of Reuben and Moabite Toponymy,” BASOR 276 (1984): 55-57.

³ tn The words “Reuben said this” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁴ sn Nebo and Kiriathaim were both north of the Arnon and were assigned to Reuben (Num 32:3; Josh 13:19). They are both mentioned on the Moabite Stone as having been recovered from Israel.

¹ tn Heb “and from across the Jordan at Jericho, on the east of the Jordan, from the tribe of Reuben.” The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

¹ tn Heb “and to the sons of Merari by their clans from the tribe of Reuben, and from the tribe of Gad, and from the tribe of Zebulun by lot, twelve cities.”

¹ sn The phrase when he defiled his father’s bed refers to Reuben having sexual relations with his father Jacob’s concubine Bilhah. This incident is recorded in Gen 35:22.

² tn Heb “and they did not speak about going up against them for battle to destroy the land in which the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad were living.”

¹ tn Heb “and Phinehas…returned from the sons of Reuben and from the sons of Gad, from the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the sons of Israel. And they brought back to them a word.”