Joshua 12:2

2 Sihon, the king of Amorites, that dwelled in Heshbon, was lord from Aroer, which is set on the brink of the strand of Arnon, and of the middle part in the valley, and of half Gilead, till to the strand of Jabbok, which is the term of the sons of Ammon; (There was Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and who ruled half of Gilead, from Aroer, which is set on the banks of the Arnon River, and from the middle part of the valley, unto the Jabbok River, which is the border of the Ammonites;)

Joshua 12:2 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 12:2

Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon
Which he took from the Moabites, and made his capital city, ( Numbers 21:26 ) ;

[and] ruled from Aroer, which [is] upon the bank of the river of Arnon;
a city of Moab, which never fell into the hands of Sihon, and therefore he is said to rule from it but not over it:

and from the middle of the river;
that is, the river Arnon, which being the boundary of the Moabites and Amorites, the king of the Amorites might be said to rule from the middle of it:

and from half Gilead even unto the river Jabbok, [which is] the border
of the children of Ammon;
so it is said to be, ( Deuteronomy 3:16 ) ; it should be rendered, not "from half Gilead", but "and half Gilead", as it is in the Hebrew text, and so in the Targum; for half Gilead belonged to the kingdom of Sihon, as the other half did to the kingdom of Og, as in ( Joshua 12:5 ) ; and so Jarchi remarks.

Joshua 12:2 In-Context

1 These be the (two) kings which the sons of Israel have smitten, and wielded their lands, beyond (the) Jordan, at the east, from the strand of Arnon unto the hill of Hermon, and all the east coast that beholdeth the wilderness. (These be the two kings whom the Israelites struck down, and took over their lands, east of the Jordan River, from the Arnon River unto Mount Hermon, and all the land to the east that looketh toward the wilderness.)

2 Sihon, the king of Amorites, that dwelled in Heshbon, was lord from Aroer, which is set on the brink of the strand of Arnon, and of the middle part in the valley, and of half Gilead, till to the strand of Jabbok, which is the term of the sons of Ammon; (There was Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and who ruled half of Gilead, from Aroer, which is set on the banks of the Arnon River, and from the middle part of the valley, unto the Jabbok River, which is the border of the Ammonites;)

3 and from the wilderness unto the sea of Chinneroth, against the east, and unto the sea of (the) desert, which is the saltiest sea, at the east coast, in the way that leadeth to Bethjeshimoth, and from the south part that lieth under Ashdoth, unto Pisgah. (and from the wilderness unto the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, or Lake Galilee, and unto the eastern side of the Salt Sea, that is, the Dead Sea, on the way that leadeth to Bethjeshimoth, and from the south that lieth under Mount Pisgah/and from the south that lieth under Ashdothpisgah.)

4 The term of Og, king of Bashan, of the relics of Rephaim, that is, giants, that dwelled in Ashtaroth and in Edrei, (And there was Og, the king of Bashan, of the remnant of the Rephaim, that is, of the giants, who lived in Ashtaroth and in Edrei,)

5 and he was lord in the hill of Hermon, and in Salcah, and in all Bashan, till to the terms of Geshurites and Maachathites, and of the half part of Gilead, and to the term of Sihon, king of Heshbon. (and he ruled Mount Hermon, and Salcah, and all of Bashan, unto the borders of the Geshurites and the Maachathites, and also ruled half of Gilead, unto the border of Sihon, the king of Heshbon.)