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King Og Defeated

Then we turned and went up the way to Bashan, and Og, the king of Bashan, came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. Then the Lord said to me, “Do not fear him, for I will deliver him and all his people and his land into your hand; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.”

So the Lord, our God, delivered Og, the king of Bashan, with all his people, into our hands also, and we struck him down until there was no survivor remaining. We took all his cities at that time. There was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these cities were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a great many rural towns. We utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon, king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children of every city. But we took all the livestock and the spoil of the cities as plunder for ourselves.

So at that time we took from the hand of the two kings of the Amorites the land that was across the Jordan, from the River Arnon to Mount Hermon (the Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir), 10 all the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, as far as Salekah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 11 For only Og, king of Bashan, remained of the remnant of the giants. (Notably, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the children of Ammon? It is nine cubits long and four cubits wide,[a] according to the cubit of a man.)

Division of the Land

12 This is the land which we possessed at that time from Aroer, which is by the River Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead and its cities I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites. 13 The rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (All the region of Argob, with all Bashan, was called the land of giants. 14 Jair, the son of Manasseh, took all the region of Argob, that is, Bashan, as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maakathites, and called the villages after his own name, Havvoth Jair, as it is to this day.) 15 I gave Gilead to Makir. 16 To the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave the territory from Gilead even as far as the stream bed of the River Arnon, half the valley as the border to the River Jabbok, which is the border of the Ammonites; 17 the plain also, with the Jordan as the border, from Kinnereth as far as the east side of the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea), below the slopes of Pisgah.

18 Then I commanded you at that time, saying, “The Lord your God has given you this land to possess it. All you men of valor shall pass over armed before your brothers, the children of Israel. 19 But your wives and your little ones, and your livestock (for I know that you have much livestock) shall remain in your cities which I have given you 20 until the Lord has given rest to your brothers, as well as to you, and until they also possess the land which the Lord your God has given them beyond the Jordan. Then each of you shall return to his possession which I have given you.”

Moses Forbidden to Cross the Jordan

21 I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, “Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. So shall the Lord do to all the kingdoms where you pass. 22 Do not fear them, for the Lord your God, He shall fight for you.”

23 I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying, 24 “O Lord God, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness, and Your mighty hand, for what god is there in heaven or in earth that can do according to Your works and according to Your might? 25 Let me, I pray, go over and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that good hill country, and Lebanon.”

26 But the Lord was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me, and the Lord said to me, “Enough of that! Speak to Me no more of this matter. 27 Get up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes to the west and north and south and east, and see it with your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan. 28 But charge Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him, for he shall cross over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which you will see.” 29 So we remained in the valley over against Beth Peor.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 3:11 About 14 feet long and 6 feet wide, or 4 meters long and 1.8 meters wide.

Fighting the People of Bashan

“We turned and went on the road to Bashan. King Og of Bashan and all his men came out to fight against us at Edrei. The Lord said to me, ‘Don’t be afraid of Og. I have decided to give him to you. I will give you all his men and his land. You will defeat him just as you defeated Sihon, the Amorite king who ruled in Heshbon.’

“So the Lord our God let us defeat King Og of Bashan. We destroyed him and all his men. Not one of them was left. Then we took all the cities that belonged to Og at that time. We took all the cities from Og’s people—60 cities in the area of Argob, Og’s kingdom in Bashan. All these cities were very strong. They had high walls, gates, and strong bars on the gates. There were also many towns that did not have walls. We destroyed them just as we destroyed the cities of King Sihon of Heshbon. We completely destroyed every city and all the people in them, even the women and the babies. But we kept all the cattle and the valuable things from the cities for ourselves.

“In that way we took the land from the two Amorite kings. We took that land on the east side of the Jordan River, from Arnon Valley to Mount Hermon. (The people from Sidon call Mount Hermon, Sirion, but the Amorites called it Senir.) 10 We took all the cities in the high plain and all of Gilead. We took all of Bashan, all the way to Salecah and Edrei. Salecah and Edrei were cities of Og’s kingdom of Bashan.”

11 (Og was the king of Bashan. He was one of the few Rephaites still alive. His bed was made from iron, and it was over 13 feet long and 6 feet wide.[a] The bed is still in the city of Rabbah, where the Ammonites live.)

The Land East of the Jordan River

12 “So we took that land to be ours. I gave part of this land to the tribes of Reuben and Gad. I gave them the land from Aroer in the Arnon Valley to the hill country of Gilead with the cities in it. They got half of the hill country of Gilead. 13 I gave the other half of Gilead and the whole area of Bashan to half the tribe of Manasseh.”

(Bashan was Og’s kingdom. Part of Bashan was called Argob. It was also called the Land of Rephaim. 14 Jair, from the tribe of Manasseh, took the whole area of Argob. That area went all the way to the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites. It was named for Jair, and even today, people call Bashan the Towns of Jair.)

15 “I gave Gilead to Makir. 16 And to the tribe of Reuben and the tribe of Gad, I gave the land that begins at Gilead and goes from the Arnon Valley to the Jabbok River. The middle of the valley is one border. The Jabbok River is the border for the Ammonites. 17 The Jordan River near the desert is their western border. Lake Galilee[b] is north of this area and the Dead Sea[c] is to the south. It is at the bottom of the cliffs of Pisgah, which are to the east.

18 “At that time I gave those tribes this command: ‘The Lord your God has given you the land on this side of the Jordan River to live in. But now your fighting men must take their weapons and lead the other Israelite tribes across the river. 19 Your wives, your little children, and your cattle (I know you have many cattle) will stay here in the cities I have given you. 20 But you must help your Israelite relatives until they take the land that the Lord is giving them on the other side of the Jordan River. Help them until the Lord gives them peace there, just as he did for you here. Then you may come back to this land that I have given you.’

21 “Then I told Joshua, ‘You have seen all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same thing to all the kingdoms you will enter. 22 Don’t fear the kings of these lands, because the Lord your God will fight for you.’

Moses Not Allowed in Canaan

23 “Then I begged the Lord to do something special for me. I said, 24 ‘Lord God, I am your servant. I know that you have shown me only a small part of the wonderful and powerful things you will do. There is no god in heaven or earth that can do the great and powerful things you have done. 25 Please let me go across the Jordan River and see the good land on the other side. Let me see the beautiful hill country and Lebanon.’

26 “But the Lord was angry with me because of you and refused to listen to me. The Lord said to me, ‘That’s enough! Don’t say another word about this. 27 Go up to the top of Mount Pisgah. Look to the west, to the north, to the south, and to the east. You may see these things with your eyes, but you can never go across the Jordan River. 28 You must give instructions to Joshua. Encourage him. Make him strong, because Joshua must lead the people across the Jordan River. You can see the land, but Joshua will lead them into that land. He will help them take the land and live in it.’

29 “So we stayed in the valley across from Beth Peor.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 3:11 13 feet long and 6 feet wide Literally, “9 cubits long and 4 cubits wide, following the measure of a man’s cubit.”
  2. Deuteronomy 3:17 Lake Galilee Literally, “Kinnereth Lake.”
  3. Deuteronomy 3:17 Dead Sea Literally, “Arabah Sea.” Also called the “Salt Sea.”