“Bring with you your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, so that they may join ¹  with you and minister to you while ²  you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.

The Levitical priests ¹  – indeed, the entire tribe of Levi – will have no allotment or inheritance with Israel; they may eat the burnt offerings of the Lord and of his inheritance. ² 

The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed for battle ahead of the Israelites, just as Moses had instructed them.

Moses the Lord’s servant and the Israelites defeated them and Moses the Lord’s servant assigned their land ¹  to Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh.

They went to the land of Gilead to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and said to them:

The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders ¹  of the Israelite clans:

They said, “Why, O Lord God of Israel, has this happened in Israel?” An entire ¹  tribe has disappeared from Israel today!”

Then he brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its families, and the family of Matri was chosen by lot. At last Saul son of Kish was chosen by lot. But when they looked for him, he was nowhere to be found.

But I will not tear away the entire kingdom; I will leave ¹  your son one tribe for my servant David’s sake and for the sake of my chosen city Jerusalem.”

So the Lord was furious ¹  with Israel and rejected them; ²  only the tribe of Judah was left.

The half-tribe of Manasseh settled in the land from Bashan as far as Baal Hermon, Senir, and Mount Hermon. They grew in number.

From the other side of the Jordan, from Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, there were 120,000 men armed with all kinds of weapons.

Indeed, ¹  the scepter of a wicked king ²  will not settle ³  upon the allotted land of the godly. Otherwise the godly might do what is wrong. ⁴ 

For their oppressive yoke and the club that strikes their shoulders, the cudgel the oppressor uses on them, ¹  you have shattered, as in the day of Midian’s defeat. ² 

Does an ax exalt itself over the one who wields it, or a saw magnify itself over the one who cuts with it? ¹  As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it, or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood!

Don’t be so happy, all you Philistines, just because the club that beat you has been broken! ¹  For a viper will grow out of the serpent’s root, and its fruit will be a darting adder. ² 

The Lord, who is the inheritance ¹  of Jacob’s descendants, ²  is not like them. He is the one who created everything. And the people of Israel are those he claims as his own. ³  He is known as the Lord who rules over all.” ⁴ 

A fire has gone out from its branch; it has consumed its shoot and its fruit. ¹  No strong branch was left in it, nor a scepter to rule.’ This is a lament song, and has become a lament song.”

It is sharpened for slaughter, it is polished to flash like lightning! “‘Should we rejoice in the scepter of my son? No! The sword despises every tree! ¹ 

“‘For testing will come, and what will happen when the scepter, which the sword despises, is no more? ¹  declares the sovereign Lord.’