1 And the sons of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn (for he was the firstborn; but when he defiled his father’s beds {y'tsu-ei: sleeping places}, his birthright {b'khorah: firstborn privilege} was transferred to the sons of Joseph, son of Israel); thus he was not accounted among the firstborn.
2 For Judah {Yehudah: Tribal Ancestor} became strong among his brothers, and from him came the ruler; nevertheless the birthright {bekhorah: firstborn privilege} was Joseph’s.
3 The sons of Reuben {Reuven: see, a son}, the firstborn {bekhor: eldest child} of Israel, were Chanokh, Pallu, Hezron, and Karmi.
4 The sons {benei: direct descendants} of Joel were Shemaiah {Shema’yah: Yah hears} his son, Gog his son, and Shimei his son.
5 Micah {Mikah: personal name} his son, Reaiah his son, Baal his son {ben: male descendant}.
6 Beerah his son, whom Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria {ashur: northern Mesopotamian region}, carried away, was leader {nasi: chief or prince} of the Reubenites.
7 And among his brothers, according to their families {mishpechotav: clan divisions}, in the genealogical registration of their generations the chief was Jeiel {yei’el: clan chief}, and Zechariah.
8 And Bela, son of Azaz, son of Shema, son of Joel—he {hu: emphatic subject} lived in Aroer {aroer: Transjordan town}, and as far as Nebo and Baal-meon.
9 And to the east {mizrach: directional boundary} they dwelt as far as the entrance of the wilderness {midbarah: uninhabited expanse} toward the Euphrates River, because their livestock were numerous in the land of Gilead.
10 And in the days {vimei: temporal period} of Saul they waged war against the Hagrites, and they fell by their hand; and they dwelt in their tents over all the face of the east toward Gilead {Gil’ad: region east of the Jordan}.
11 And the sons of Gad {Gad: Transjordan Tribe} settled opposite them in the land of Bashan as far as Salcah {salkah: eastern border}.
12 Joel was the chief {harosh: first in rank}, Shapham was the second, and Janai and Shaphat were in Bashan {bashan: fertile northern territory}.
13 And their brothers {acheihem: extended kinship} in the house of their fathers were Michael, Meshullam, Sheba, Jorai, Jakan, Zia, and Eber—seven {shiv’ah: completeness in listing} in all.
14 These are the sons of Abihayil {Avichayil: Father of Strength}, the son of Huri, the son of Jaroah, the son of Gilead, the son of Michael, the son of Jeshishai {Yeshishai: Aged One}, the son of Jahdo, the son of Buz.
15 Ahi {ahi: named chief}, son of Abdiel, son of Guni, was head {rosh: ruling leader} of their fathers’ house.
16 And they lived in Gilead, in Bashan, in its villages {vivnoteha: small settlements}, and in all the pasturelands {migreshei: communal grazing lands} of Sharon up to their borders.
17 All of them were enrolled by genealogy in the days of Jotham {Yotam: king of Judah} and in the days of Jeroboam {Yarov’am: king of Israel}.
18 The sons of Reuben, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, from among the valiant men {chayil: elite warriors}, bearing shield and sword, drawing the bow, and trained for war, numbered forty-four thousand seven hundred sixty {arbaim u-shnayim elef u-sheva meot veshishim: additive count} who went out to battle.
19 And they waged war {milchamah: organized conflict} against the Hagrites {ha-gri'im: Hagar’s descendants}, Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab.
20 And they were helped against them, and the Hagrites and all who were with them were delivered into their hand, for they cried out to God {Elohim, Deliverer} in the battle, and He answered their plea, because they trusted {batechu: steadfast confidence} in Him.
21 And they captured their livestock {mikneh: herds and flocks}, fifty thousand of their camels, two hundred fifty thousand of their sheep, two thousand of their donkeys, and one hundred thousand persons {adam: community members}.
22 For many were slain, because the battle was from God {Elohim, Divine Warrior}; and they dwelt in their place until the exile {galut: forced migration}.
23 And the sons of the half-tribe {chatsi shevet: partial division} of Manasseh dwelt in the land; they increased from Bashan as far as {ad: as far as} Baal Hermon, and Senir, and Mount Hermon; they were numerous.
24 And these were the heads of the house of their fathers: Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel—men mighty {giborei: battle-proven} of valor, men of renown {shemot: honored reputations}, heads for the house of their fathers.
25 But they acted unfaithfully against the God {Elohim, Covenant-Keeper} of their fathers {avoteihem: ancestral line}, and they prostituted themselves after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.
26 So the God of Israel {Elohei Yisrael, National Protector} stirred up the spirit {ruach: motivating force} of Pul, king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria, and he exiled the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river of Gozan, where they remain to this day.