The idea seemed good to me; so I selected twelve of you, one man from each tribe.

And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad—they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it.

And so you stayed in Kadesh many days—all the time you spent there.

At that time we took all his towns and completely destroyed them—men, women and children. We left no survivors.

All these cities were fortified with high walls and with gates and bars, and there were also a great many unwalled villages.

We completely destroyed them, as we had done with Sihon king of Heshbon, destroying every city—men, women and children.

The rest of Gilead and also all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (The whole region of Argob in Bashan used to be known as a land of the Rephaites.

Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maakathites; it was named after him, so that to this day Bashan is called Havvoth Jair.)

However, your wives, your children and your livestock (I know you have much livestock) may stay in the towns I have given you,

Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.

Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.”

so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman,

After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time—if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God and arousing his anger,

There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.

Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the Lord your God gives you for all time.

The cities were these: Bezer in the wilderness plateau, for the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.

You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!

so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.

Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Driving Out the Nations

When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you—

for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you.

You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor will any of your livestock be without young.

He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.