For the Lord hath made Iordan a border betweene vs and you, yee children of Reuben, and children of Gad, yee haue no part in the Lord: so shal your children make our children cease from fearing the Lord: Joshua 22:25 (KJV)
The passage quoted is often presented as a warning from the LORD concerning the tribes of Reuben and Gad. However, a careful reading of the King James Version shows that the exact wording “ye have no part in the LORD” and the clause about children causing others to cease fearing the LORD are not found in the biblical text. The Jordan indeed served as a boundary for the tribes of Reuben and Gad, a fact confirmed in Numbers 32:34, where the allotment of land east of the Jordan is recorded. Yet the additional accusations that the tribes “have no part in the LORD” and that “their children will cause our children to cease fearing the LORD” lack scriptural support. This discrepancy highlights the necessity of verifying quotations against the actual biblical text before using them in teaching or preaching. When a passage is cited, the surrounding context and the precise language must be preserved to avoid misrepresentation. The absence of the alleged statements in the KJV underscores that the warning attributed to the LORD in this passage is not a biblical mandate but rather an interpretive insertion. The observation made in the commentary that the claim is not found in the King James Version serves as a reminder that even familiar‑sounding quotations can be the product of tradition rather than Scripture itself. Therefore, readers and listeners should be cautious and consult the authoritative text to discern what the Scripture truly declares about the Jordan border and the relationship between the tribes.
