The two and one-half tribes start back, leaving their fellow Israelites in Shiloh (see 18.1).

In Good News Translation the movement homeward of the two and one-half eastern tribes is described as went back home … started out for their own land. This sequence may be a problem for some readers, since went back home suggests arrival, while started out for their own land signifies the beginning of their journey. Therefore it may be more satisfactory to translate:

• So the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh left the rest of the people of Israel at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, and started back home. Their land lay east of the Jordan River. Long ago Moses had told them, “This is the land that the LORD wants you to take for your own.”

Or:

• … in the land of Canaan. They started back home to their land east of the Jordan River. Before Moses died, he had told them, “The LORD wants you to take this land for your own.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Newman, Barclay M. A Handbook on Joshua. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .