(1) The Reubenites and the Gadites owned cattle in very great numbers. Noting that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were a region suitable for cattle,

(1) עטרות ודיבון וגו׳ ATOROTH AND DIBON etc. — These belonged to the land of Sihon and Og.

(2) Instruct the Israelite people and say to them: When you enter the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you as your portion, the land of Canaan with its various boundaries:

(5) It would be a favor to us,” they continued, “if this land were given to your servants as a holding; do not move us across the Jordan.”

(14) And now you, a breed of sinful men, have replaced your fathers, to add still further to GOD’s wrath against Israel. (15) If you turn away from [God], who then abandons them once more in the wilderness, you will bring calamity upon all this people.”

(16) Then they stepped up to him and said, “We will build here sheepfolds for our flocks and towns for our dependents. (17) And we will hasten as shock-troops in the van of the Israelites until we have established them in their home, while our dependents stay in the fortified towns because of the inhabitants of the land. (18) We will not return to our homes until the other Israelites are in possession of their portion.

(33) So Moses assigned to them—to the Gadites, the Reubenites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph—the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of King Og of Bashan, the land with its various cities and the territories of their surrounding towns.

(12) The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh went across armed in the van of the Israelites, as Moses had charged them.

(11) A report reached the Israelites: “The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar opposite the land of Canaan, in the region of the Jordan, across from the Israelites.”

(22) “God, the ETERNAL God! God, the ETERNAL God, surely knows, and Israel too shall know! If we acted in rebellion or in treachery against GOD, do not vindicate us this day! (23) If we built an altar to turn away from GOD, if it was to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings upon it, or to present sacrifices of well-being upon it, may GOD be the one to demand [a reckoning]. (24) We did this thing only out of our concern that, in time to come, your children might say to our children, ‘What have you to do with the ETERNAL, the God of Israel? (25) GOD has made the Jordan a boundary between you and us, O Reubenites and Gadites; you have no share in GOD!’ Thus your children might prevent our children from worshiping GOD.

(17) but this, I swear, is what GOD said: Your wife shall play the whore in the town, your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line. And you yourself shall die on impure soil; for Israel shall be exiled from its soil.”

(1) By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat, sat and wept, as we thought of Zion. (2) There on the poplars we hung up our lyres, (3) for our captors asked us there for songs, our tormentors, for amusement:“Sing us one of the songs of Zion.” (4) How can we sing a song of GOD on alien soil? (5) If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither;

(17) And Naaman [=commander of the army of the king of Aram] said [=to the prophet Elisha], “Then at least let your servant be given two mule-loads of earth; for your servant will never again offer up burnt offering or sacrifice to any god, except GOD. ..."

(4) Thus said GOD of Hosts, the God of Israel, to the whole community that I exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon: (5) Build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their fruit. (6) You should take wives and beget sons and daughters; and you should take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there, do not decrease. (7) And seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you and pray to GOD in its behalf; for in its prosperity you shall prosper.

(10) For thus said GOD: When Babylon’s seventy years are over, I will take note of you, and I will fulfill to you My promise of favor—to bring you back to this place.

(5) In the fortress Shushan lived a Jew by the name of Mordecai, son of Jair son of Shimei son of Kish, a Benjaminite.

(5) In the fortress Shushan lived a Jew by the name of Mordecai, son of Jair son of Shimei son of Kish, a Benjaminite. (6) [Kish? Who?] had been exiled from Jerusalem in the group that was carried into exile along with King Jeconiah of Judah, who had been driven into exile by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.