The two tribes and the half tribe have received their inheritance on this side Jordan near Jericho eastward, toward the sunrising.

NUMBERS 34:15KJV
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Numbers 34:15 (KJV)

What does Numbers 34:15 mean?

Numbers 34:15 explains why the land about to be divided west of the Jordan is not divided among all twelve tribes. Two tribes and half of another have already received land east of the river, near Jericho.

God is speaking to Moses about the land Israel is to receive. In the KJV, “on this side Jordan” means the eastern side, where Moses and the Israelites were at the time. “Toward the sunrising” makes that direction clear.

The Hebrew behind Numbers 34:15

  • “inheritance” — נַחֲלָה (naḥalah): This means a possession or share passed on or assigned. Here, it refers to land assigned to the tribes, rather than something received from a deceased relative.
  • “side” — עֵבֶר (ʿever): This can mean a region across or on the other side of a boundary. Its direction depends on the speaker’s location, so the rest of the verse identifies which side of the Jordan is meant.

Why Numbers 34:15 matters

  • The land east of the Jordan was already assigned, not left out of Israel’s land divisions. Numbers 32:33 names its recipients as Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh.
  • The verse helps explain the count in the surrounding passage. Numbers 34:13 describes land for nine and a half tribes, while verse 15 accounts for the remaining two and a half.
  • “Near Jericho” helps locate the eastern land across the river from that city. Jericho itself was west of the Jordan, as the crossing described in Joshua 3–4 shows.

Where else these words appear

“Jericho” Hebrew H3405 · used in 53 verses

  • Numbers 22:1 And the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in the plains of Moab on this side Jordan by Jericho.
  • Joshua 5:10 And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho.
  • Joshua 18:21 Now the cities of the tribe of the children of Benjamin according to their families were Jericho, and Bethhoglah, and the valley of Keziz,

“sunrising” Hebrew H4217 · used in 71 verses

  • Exodus 27:13 And the breadth of the court on the east side eastward shall be fifty cubits.
  • Joshua 16:6 And the border went out toward the sea to Michmethah on the north side; and the border went about eastward unto Taanathshiloh, and passed by it on the east to Janohah;
  • 2 Chronicles 4:4 It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.

“eastward” Hebrew H6924 · used in 83 verses

  • Genesis 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
  • Joshua 19:12 And turned from Sarid eastward toward the sunrising unto the border of Chislothtabor, and then goeth out to Daberath, and goeth up to Japhia,
  • Psalms 143:5 I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.

“side” Hebrew H5676 · used in 84 verses

  • Genesis 50:10 And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.
  • Joshua 9:1 And it came to pass, when all the kings which were on this side Jordan, in the hills, and in the valleys, and in all the coasts of the great sea over against Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard thereof;
  • 2 Samuel 10:16 And Hadarezer sent, and brought out the Syrians that were beyond the river: and they came to Helam; and Shobach the captain of the host of Hadarezer went before them.