This verse is a summary of all the territory east of the Jordan that had been conquered by the Israelites.

The tableland is the southern plateau, going from Gilead, in the north, to the boundary of Moab at the Arnon River. Another way to express tableland, or “plateau,” is “high, flat land.” Gilead was the central area of east Jordan, divided into two by the Jabbok River (see map, page xii).

Salecah and Edrei (see 1.4) appear as two towns more or less in the same region. Both seem to have been at the southern boundary of the land (Josh 13.11-12).

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .