Joshua 13:21

21 that is, all the cities of the tableland, and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses defeated with the leaders of Mid'ian, Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, the princes of Sihon, who dwelt in the land.

Joshua 13:21 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 13:21

And all the cities of the plain
In the champaign country, as well as those in the mountainous part:

and all the kingdom of Sihon;
or, as Masius renders the words, "which all had been the kingdom of Sihon"; for the whole kingdom of Sihon was not given to Reuben, only a part of it, and the rest to Gad, as in ( Joshua 13:27 ) ;

king of the Amorites, which reigned in Heshbon;
as in ( Joshua 13:10 ) ;

whom Moses smote with the princes of Midian, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur,
and Hur, and Reba;
not at the same time that Sihon was smitten by him, but afterwards in a war with Midian, ( Numbers 31:8 ) ; where their names are given as here; and there they are called kings of Midian, petty kings, and, as it seems by what follows, were subject to Sihon, and therefore are here mentioned:

[which were] dukes of Sihon dwelling in the country;
for Midian, as Kimchi supposes, and not without reason, was under the government of Sihon, and these were his nobles, though they dwelt in the land of Midian.

Joshua 13:21 In-Context

19 and Kir'iatha'im, and Sibmah, and Zer'eth-sha'har on the hill of the valley,
20 and Beth-pe'or, and the slopes of Pisgah, and Beth-jesh'imoth,
21 that is, all the cities of the tableland, and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses defeated with the leaders of Mid'ian, Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, the princes of Sihon, who dwelt in the land.
22 Balaam also, the son of Be'or, the soothsayer, the people of Israel killed with the sword among the rest of their slain.
23 And the border of the people of Reuben was the Jordan as a boundary. This was the inheritance of the Reubenites, according to their families with their cities and villages.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.