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:
12. Joel the chief, Shapham the next, Janai, and Shaphat in Bashan.
13. Their kinsmen of the houses of their fathers: Michael, Meshullam, Sheba, Jorai, Jacan, Zia, and Eber–seven in all.
14. These were the sons of Abihail son of Huri, the son of Jaroah, the son of Gilead, the son of Michael, the son of Jeshishai, the son of Jahdo, the son of Buz.
15. Ahi son of Abdiel, the son of Guni, was chief in their fathers' houses.
16. They dwelt in Gilead, in Bashan and in its towns, and in all the suburbs and pasturelands of Sharon to their limits.
17. All these were enrolled by genealogies in the days of Jotham king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam [II] king of Israel.
18. The sons of Reuben, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh–valiant men able to bear buckler and sword and to shoot with bow and skillful in war–were 44,760 able and ready to go forth to war.