Deuteronomy 2:24–4:46

Moses Reminds Israel about King Og and King Sihon

²⁴⸤The Lord continued,⸥ “Now break camp. Cross the Arnon Valley. I’m going to hand King Sihon of Heshbon, the Amorite, over to you. Fight him, and take possession of his country. ²⁵Today I will start to make all the people under heaven terrified of you. When they hear about you, they will tremble and shake because of you.” 

²⁶From the desert of Kedemoth, I sent messengers to King Sihon of Heshbon with the following offer of peace: ²⁷“If you allow us to travel through your country, we’ll go straight through and won’t ever leave the road. ²⁸We’ll pay you in silver for the food we eat and the water we drink. Please let us go through, ²⁹as the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, did for us. We’ll keep going until we cross the Jordan River into the land the Lord our God is giving us.” 

³⁰But King Sihon of Heshbon wouldn’t allow us to pass through. The Lord your God made him stubborn and overconfident in order to hand him over to you, as he has now done. ³¹The Lord said to me, “I have begun to give you Sihon and his country. Go ahead! Take possession of his land.” 

³²Sihon and all his troops came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz. ³³The Lord our God gave Sihon to us, and we defeated him, his sons, and all his troops. ³⁴At that time we captured all his cities and claimed them for God by destroying men, women, and children. There were no survivors. ³⁵However, we did loot the cities that we captured, taking the cattle and goods. ³⁶From Aroer on the edge of the Arnon Valley and the city in that valley as far as Gilead, no city had walls that could keep us out. The Lord our God gave us all of them. ³⁷But the Lord our God had forbidden you to go anywhere near the land of the Ammonites. So you didn’t enter the land along the bank of the Jabbok River or capture the cities in the mountains. 

3RD CHAPTER

Moses Reminds Israel of How They Defeated King Og of Bashan

¹Next we turned and followed the road that goes to Bashan. King Og of Bashan and all his troops came to fight us at Edrei. ²The Lord said to me, “Don’t be afraid of him. I’ll hand him, all his troops, and his land over to you. Do to him what you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon.” 

³So the Lord our God also handed King Og of Bashan and all his troops over to us. We defeated him, leaving no survivors. ⁴At that time we captured all of his cities. There wasn’t a city we didn’t take. We captured a total of 60 cities—the whole territory of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ⁵All of these cities were fortified with high walls and double-door gates with bars across the gates. We also captured a large number of unwalled villages. ⁶We claimed them all for God, destroying every city, including men, women, and children—as we did to King Sihon of Heshbon. ⁷However, we did loot the cities, taking all of the cattle and goods. 

⁸We took the land of the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River, from the Arnon Valley to Mount Hermon. ⁹(The Sidonians call Mount Hermon by the name Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir.) ¹⁰We took all of the cities of the plateau, all of Gilead, and all of Bashan as far as Salcah and Edrei, cities of Og’s kingdom in Bashan. ¹¹(Of the Rephaim only King Og of Bashan was left. His bed was made of iron and was more than 13 feet long and 6 feet wide. It is still in the Ammonite city of Rabbah.) 

¹²At that time we took possession of this land. I gave the tribes of Reuben and Gad the land north of Aroer near the Arnon Valley and half of the mountain region of Gilead with its cities. ¹³I gave the rest of Gilead and all of Bashan ruled by Og to half of the tribe of Manasseh. (The whole territory of Argob in Bashan used to be called the land of the Rephaim. ¹⁴Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took the whole territory of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites. The settlements in Bashan he named Havvoth Jair after himself. This is still their name today.) ¹⁵I gave Gilead to Machir. ¹⁶I gave the tribes of Reuben and Gad some of Gilead from the Arnon Valley (the middle of the valley is the border) to the Jabbok River, which is the border of Ammon. ¹⁷Their land included the plains around the Jordan River. The western border was the river, from the Sea of Galilee to the Sea of the Plains (the Dead Sea), which is near Mount Pisgah on the east. 

¹⁸I gave the tribes of Reuben and Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh this command: “The Lord your God has given you this land so that you can take possession of it. All your soldiers must be ready for battle when they cross ⸤the Jordan River⸥ ahead of the other Israelites. ¹⁹I know you have a lot of livestock. Your wives, children, and livestock must stay here in the cities that I gave you. ²⁰Your soldiers will go with the other Israelites until they take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving them on the other side of the Jordan River. Then they will have a place to rest as you have. After that each of you may go back to the land I gave you.” 

²¹I also gave Joshua this command: “You have seen with your own eyes everything that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all of the kingdoms on the other side ⸤of the Jordan River⸥ where you’re going. ²²Don’t be afraid of them, because the Lord your God himself will fight for you.” 

Moses Reminds Israel Why He Will Not Enter Canaan

²³Then I pleaded with the Lord: ²⁴“Almighty Lord, you have ⸤only⸥ begun to show me how great and powerful you are. What kind of god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and the mighty acts you have done? ²⁵Please let me go over and see the beautiful land on the other side of the Jordan River—those beautiful mountains in Lebanon.” 

²⁶The Lord was angry with me because of you, so he wouldn’t listen to me. He said, “That’s enough out of you! Don’t talk to me anymore about this. ²⁷Go to the top of Mount Pisgah, and look west, north, south, and east. You may look at the land, but you will never cross the Jordan River. ²⁸Give instructions to Joshua. Encourage and strengthen him, because he will lead these people across ⸤the Jordan River⸥, and he will help them take possession of the land you see.” 

²⁹So we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor. 

4TH CHAPTER

Moses Reminds Israel to Be Loyal to the Lord

¹Israel, listen to the laws and rules I am about to teach you. Obey them so that you will live and be able to enter and take possession of the land that the Lord God of your ancestors is giving you. ²Never add anything to what I command you, or take anything away from it. Then you will be able to obey the commands of the Lord your God that I give you. 

³With your own eyes you saw what the Lord did at Baal Peor. The Lord your God destroyed everyone among you who worshiped the god Baal while you were at Peor. ⁴But you were loyal to the Lord your God and are still alive today. 

⁵I have taught you laws and rules as the Lord my God commanded me. You must obey them when you’ve entered the land and taken possession of it. ⁶Faithfully obey these laws. This will show the people of the world your wisdom and insight. When they hear about all these laws, they will say, “What wise and insightful people there are in this great nation!” 

⁷What great nation ever had their gods as near to them as the Lord our God is near to us whenever we pray to him? ⁸Or what other great nation has such fair laws and rules as all these teachings I am giving you today? 

⁹However, be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you don’t forget the things which you have seen with your own eyes. Don’t let them fade from your memory as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren. ¹⁰Never forget the day you stood in front of the Lord your God at Mount Horeb. The Lord had said to me, “Assemble the people in front of me, and I will let them hear my words. Then they will learn to fear me as long as they live on earth, and they will teach their children the same thing.” 

¹¹So you came and stood at the foot of the mountain, which was on fire with flames shooting into the sky. It was dark, cloudy, and gloomy. ¹²The Lord spoke to you from the fire. You heard a voice speaking but saw no one. There was only a voice. ¹³The Lord told you about the terms of his promise, the ten commandments, which he commanded you to do. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets. ¹⁴The Lord also commanded me to teach you the laws and rules you must obey after you cross ⸤the Jordan River⸥ and take possession of the land. 

¹⁵You didn’t see the Lord the day he spoke to you from the fire at Mount Horeb. So be very careful ¹⁶that you don’t become corrupt and make your own carved idols. Don’t make statues that represent men or women, ¹⁷any animal on earth, any creature with wings that flies, ¹⁸any creature that crawls on the ground, or any fish in the water. ¹⁹Don’t let yourselves be tempted to worship and serve what you see in the sky—the sun, the moon, the stars, or anything else. The Lord your God has given them to all people everywhere. ²⁰But you are the people the Lord brought out of Egypt, the iron smelter, in order to make you his own people as you still are today. 

²¹The Lord was angry with me because of you. So the Lord your God took an oath that I wouldn’t cross the Jordan River and enter the good land he is giving you as your property. ²²I’m going to die in this land and not cross the Jordan River, but you’re going to go across and take possession of that good land. ²³Be careful that you don’t forget the promise^athat the Lord your God made to you. Don’t make your own carved idols or statues that represent anything the Lord your God has forbidden. ²⁴The Lord your God is a raging fire, a God who does not tolerate rivals. 

²⁵Even when you have children and grandchildren and have grown old in that land, don’t become corrupt and make carved idols or statues that represent…