Deuteronomy - The Old Testament

¹ 'We then turned on Bashan and invaded that. And Og king of Bashan marched out against us, he and all his people, to give battle at Edrei.

² Yahweh said to me, "Do not be afraid of him, for I have put him at your mercy, him, all his people and his country. You will treat him as you treated Sihon king of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon."

³ So, Yahweh our God put Og king of Bashan at our mercy too, with all his people. We beat him so thoroughly that nobody was left.

⁴ That was when we captured all his towns; there was not a town of theirs we did not take: sixty towns, the whole confederation of Argob, Og's kingdom in Bashan,

⁵ all of them fortresses defended by high walls and fortified with gates and bars, not to mention the Perizzite towns, which were very numerous.

⁶ We laid them under the curse of destruction as we had done Sihon king of Heshbon, laying all these towns under the curse of destruction: men, women and children-

⁷ but we seized the livestock and spoils of the towns as booty for ourselves.

⁸ 'Thus, by then we had taken the country of the two Amorite kings beyond the Jordan, stretching from the Wadi Arnon to Mount Hermon

⁹ (the Sidonians call Hermon 'Sirion' and the Amorites call it 'Senir'):

¹⁰ all the towns of the tableland, all Gilead, and all Bashan as far as Salecah and Edrei, the capital cities of Og in Bashan.

¹¹ (Og king of Bashan was the last survivor of the Rephaim; his bed was the iron bed that can be seen at Rabbah-of-the-Ammonites, nine cubits long and four wide, according to the human cubit.)

¹² 'Then we took possession of this country, from Aroer on the Wadi Arnon. To the Reubenites and Gadites I gave half the highlands of Gilead with its towns.

¹³ To the half-tribe of Manasseh I gave the rest of Gilead and the whole of Bashan, Og's kingdom. (The whole confederation of Argob and the whole of Bashan is called the country of the Rephaim.

¹⁴ Since Jair son of Manasseh occupied the whole confederation of Argob as far as the frontiers of the Geshurites and Maacathites, after him Bashan is called the Encampments of Jair even today.)

¹⁵ To Machir I gave Gilead.

¹⁶ To the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave the region from Gilead to the Wadi Arnon, the middle of the ravine marking the boundary, and up as far as the Jabbok, the ravine marking the frontier of the Ammonites.

¹⁷ The Arabah and the Jordan serve as frontiers from Chinnereth down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea), at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah on the east.

¹⁸ 'I then gave you this order: "Yahweh your God has given you this country to be yours. Armed, every one of you fit to fight must go ahead of your brothers the Israelites.

¹⁹ Only your wives, your children and your flocks (you have many flocks, I know) must stay behind in the towns which I have given you,

²⁰ until Yahweh has brought your brothers to rest as he has already brought you, and they too possess the territory which Yahweh your God is giving them on the other side of the Jordan; after that, you can go home, each to the domain I have given you."

²¹ I then gave Joshua this order, "You can see for yourself everything that Yahweh our God has done to these two kings; Yahweh will do the same to all the kingdoms through which you pass.

²² Do not be afraid of them: Yahweh your God himself is fighting for you."

²³ 'I then pleaded with Yahweh.

²⁴ "My Lord Yahweh," I said, "now that you have begun to reveal your greatness and your power to your servant with works and mighty deeds no God in heaven or on earth can rival,

²⁵ may I not go across and see this fine country on the other side of the Jordan, that fine upland country and the Lebanon?"

²⁶ But, because of you, Yahweh was angry with me and would not listen. "Enough!" he said, "Do not mention this subject again!

²⁷ Climb to the top of Pisgah; turn your eyes to the west, the north, the south, the east. Look well, for across this Jordan you shall not go.

²⁸ Give Joshua your instructions; encourage him, strengthen him; for he will be the one to cross at the head of this people; he will be the one to bring them into possession of the country which you will see."

²⁹ 'We then stayed in the valley, close to Beth-Peor.'