1. NOW [we come to] the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel. For [Reuben] was the eldest, but because he polluted his father's couch [with Bilhah his father's concubine] his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph [favorite] son of Israel; so the genealogy is not to be reckoned according to the birthright. [Gen. 35:22; 48:15-22; 49:3, 4.]
2. Judah prevailed above his brethren, and from him came the prince and leader [and eventually the Messiah]; yet the birthright was Joseph's. [Gen. 49:10; Mic. 5:2.]
3. The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.
4. The sons of Joel: Shemaiah his son, Gog his son, Shimei his son,
5. Micah his son, Reaiah his son, Baal his son,
6. Beerah his son, whom Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria carried away captive; he was a prince of the Reubenites.
7. And his brethren by their families, when the genealogy of their generations was reckoned: the chief Jeiel, and Zechariah,
8. Bela son of Azaz, the son of Shema, the son of Joel, who dwelt in Aroer as far as Nebo and Baal-meon.
9. Eastward [Bela] inhabited the land as far as the entrance into the desert this [west] side of the river Euphrates, because their cattle had multiplied in the land of Gilead.
10. In the days of [King] Saul they made war with the Hagrites or Ishmaelites, who fell by their hands; they dwelt in their tents in all the land east of Gilead.
11. The children of Gad who dwelt opposite them in the land of Bashan, as far as Salecah: