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.”

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