Beginning
3 Then we turned and went up on the road to Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan came out to confront us. He and all his people came for war at Edrei. 2 But the Lord said to me, “Do not be afraid of him, because I have given him into your hands, as well as all of his people and his land. Do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.” 3 So the Lord our God gave into our hands also Og king of Bashan and all his people. We struck them down until they had no survivor remaining.
4 So we took all of his cities at that time. There was not a city that we did not take from them—sixty cities, the whole area of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 5 All of these were fortified cities with high walls, gates, and bars, besides very many small unwalled towns.[a] 6 We devoted them to destruction, just as we had done to Sihon king of Heshbon. There was a total destruction of every city, of men, women, and children, 7 but all of the cattle and the plunder of the cities we took as spoils for ourselves.
8 So at that time we took the land out of the hands of the two kings of the Amorites who were east of the Jordan, from the Arnon Canyon to Mount Hermon. 9 (The Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, but the Amorites call it Senir.) 10 We took all the cities of the tableland and all of Gilead and all of Bashan, up to Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 11 (Only Og king of Bashan had remained from what was left of the Rephaim. His bed,[b] a bed of iron, is it not in Rabbah of the people of Ammon? Its length is thirteen feet, and its width is six feet,[c] according to the standard measure.)
12 So we took possession of this land at that time. I gave to Reuben and to Gad the land starting at Aroer, which is at the Arnon Canyon, and half of the hill country[d] of Gilead, as well as its cities. 13 I gave to the half tribe of Manasseh the remainder of Gilead and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, all the territory of Argob (all that part of Bashan is called the land of the Rephaim). 14 Jair, the descendant of Manasseh, took all the territory of Argob up to the border of the Geshurites and the Ma’acathites, and he named the villages of Bashan after himself, Havvoth Jair,[e] as they are called to this day. 15 I gave Gilead to Makir. 16 To the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave the land of Gilead from the Arnon Canyon (that is, from the middle of the canyon), which served as one of their borders, up to the Jabbok Canyon, which served as their border with the people of Ammon. 17 Also the Arabah and the Jordan served as their border from the Sea of Kinneret[f] to the Sea of the Arabah, that is, the Salt Sea,[g] under the slopes of Pisgah on the east.
18 I gave you a command at that time: “The Lord your God gave you this land as a possession. All of your soldiers, armed for battle, are to cross over before your brother Israelites. 19 Only your wives and your children and your livestock (I know that you have a lot of livestock) may stay in your cities that I have given you, 20 until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also have taken possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving them on the other side of the Jordan. After that you may return, each man to his possession that I have given you.”
21 I also gave a command to Joshua at that time: “With your own eyes you have been observing everything that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms to which you are crossing. 22 Do not be afraid of them, because the Lord your God himself is fighting for you.”
23 I also begged the favor of the Lord at that time: 24 “My Lord God, you have begun to show your servant your greatness and your strong hand. Indeed, what god in heaven or on earth is there that has done anything like your works and your mighty deeds? 25 Let me cross over, please, and let me see the good land on the other side of the Jordan—this good hill country and the mountains of Lebanon.”
26 But the Lord was furious with me because of you, and he did not listen to me but said to me, “Enough from you! Do not continue to speak to me anymore about this matter. 27 Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes toward the west and the north and the south and the east. Take a good look, because you will not be crossing over this Jordan. 28 But commission Joshua for duty and strengthen him and encourage him, because he will cross over in front of these people, and he will enable them to take possession of the land that you will only see.” 29 So we stayed in the valley opposite Beth Peor.
Review of the Covenant for a New Generation
4 So now, Israel, listen to the statutes and the ordinances that I am teaching you, and carry them out so that you may live and so that you may enter the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving to you and take possession of it. 2 Do not add to the word that I am commanding you, and do not subtract from it, so that you keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you. 3 With your own eyes you have been observing what the Lord did at Baal Peor. Indeed, the Lord your God destroyed from among you every man who followed the Baal of Peor.
4 But all of you, who are clinging to the Lord your God, are still alive today. 5 Note well now, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may carry them out also in the land that you are entering to take as a possession. 6 Keep them and put them into practice, because in this way your wisdom and your understanding will be recognized by all the people who hear about all these statutes; and they will say, “This great nation is certainly a wise and understanding people,” 7 because what other great nation is there that has a god as close to it as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call on him? 8 What other great nation is there that has statutes and ordinances as righteous as this entire law that I am presenting to you today?
9 But guard yourselves and guard your whole being[h] diligently, so that you do not forget the things that your eyes have seen and so that those things do not disappear from your heart all the rest of the days of your life. Make them known to your children and to your children’s children. 10 Tell about the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb when the Lord said to me, “Bring the people near to me and I will make sure that they hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they are living in the land, and so that they may teach their children.” 11 So you drew near and you stood under the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire up to the very heavens. There was darkness, a thick cloud, and gloom. 12 Then the Lord your God spoke to you from the middle of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but you did not see a form. You only heard the sound. 13 He declared to you his covenant that he commanded you to carry out, namely, the Ten Commandments.[i] Then he wrote them on two tablets of stone. 14 At that time the Lord commanded me to teach you the statutes and ordinances for you to carry out in the land that you are entering in order to occupy it.
15 So guard your hearts very carefully, because you did not see any form on the day that the Lord your God spoke to you at Horeb from the middle of the fire. 16 Do this so that you do not act corruptly and make for yourselves an idol of any form. Do not make an image of a male or female, 17 an image of any animal that walks on the earth, an image of any bird that flies in the sky, 18 an image of anything that creeps on the ground, or an image of any fish that swims in the water below the earth. 19 Beware so that you do not lift up your eyes to the heavens and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the vast army of the heavens, and you are lured away, and you bow down to them and worship them—things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the nations under all the heavens.
20 But you are the ones that the Lord has chosen and has brought out of the iron furnace of Egypt, to be a nation that is his possession, as is the case today. 21 But the Lord was angry with me because of your words, and he swore that I would not cross the Jordan and would not come into the good land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. 22 I will die in this land without crossing over the Jordan, but you will cross over and take possession of this good land. 23 Be on guard so that you do not forget the covenant that the Lord your God made[j] with you and so that you do not make an idol for yourselves in the form of anything that the Lord your God prohibited. 24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.[k]
25 But when you become the father of children, and you have grandchildren, and you have grown old in the land, if you then act corruptly by making an idol of any form, and you do evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, provoking him to anger, 26 I today call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you, that you will most certainly perish quickly from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live many days in it, because you will most certainly be destroyed. 27 The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left as a people that are few in number among the nations where the Lord your God will force you to go. 28 There you will worship gods, the work of human hands, made of wood and stone—things that do not see or hear or eat or smell.
29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find him when you search for him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you experience misery and all these things have happened to you in future days, then you will return to the Lord your God, and you will be obedient to his voice. 31 For the Lord your God is a compassionate God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant that he promised to your fathers with an oath.
32 So ask now about the former days, long before your time, beginning from the day when God created man on the earth. Search from one end of the heavens to the other. Has there ever been anything like this great event, or has anything like it ever been heard? 33 Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking from the middle of fire as you heard and yet continued to live? 34 Or has a god ever tried to go and take for himself a nation from inside another nation by tests, signs, and warnings, or by war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and by great awe-inspiring acts like all those that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt in front of your very eyes? 35 You yourselves were shown this so that you could know that the Lord—he is God! There is none except him alone. 36 He let you hear his voice from the heavens to discipline you, and on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words from the middle of the fire. 37 Yes, because he loved your fathers and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by the great power of his Presence, 38 driving out from your presence nations greater and stronger than you are, to bring you in, to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is this day. 39 Therefore know this today and again take it to heart that the Lord is God in the heavens above and on the earth below. There is no other. 40 Keep his statutes and his commandments that I am commanding you today, so that it may go well for you and for your children after you, and so that you may live long on the land[l] that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.[m]
Cities of Refuge
41 Then Moses set aside three cities in the region east of the Jordan, the place where the sun rises, 42 so that someone who killed a man could flee to them, that is, someone who killed his neighbor unintentionally and who did not previously hate him—he could flee to one of these cities and remain alive: 43 Bezer in the wilderness in the tableland belonging to the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead belonging to the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan belonging to the Manassites.
A Review of the Law
44 This is the Law that Moses set before the people of Israel. 45 These are the testimonies and statutes and ordinances that Moses spoke to the people of Israel when they went out of Egypt, 46 in the region east of the Jordan opposite Beth Peor in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel struck down when they came out of Egypt. 47 So they took possession of his land as well as the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites who were in the region east of the Jordan, where the sun rises. 48 They took possession from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Arnon Canyon, all the way to Mount Siyon, that is, Mount Hermon, 49 including all of the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan, up to the Sea of the Arabah[n] below the slopes of Pisgah.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.