Defeat of Og King of Bashan

3 Next we turned and went up along the road toward Bashan, and Og king of Bashann with his whole army marched out to meet us in battle at Edrei.o 2 The Lord said to me, “Do not be afraidp of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.”

3 So the Lord our God also gave into our hands Og king of Bashan and all his army. We struck them down,q leaving no survivors.r 4 At that time we took all his cities.s There was not one of the sixty cities that we did not take from them—the whole region of Argob, Og’s kingdomt in Bashan.u 5 All these cities were fortified with high walls and with gates and bars, and there were also a great many unwalled villages. 6 We completely destroyeda them, as we had done with Sihon king of Heshbon, destroyingb v every city—men, women and children. 7 But all the livestockw and the plunder from their cities we carried off for ourselves.

8 So at that time we took from these two kings of the Amoritesx the territory east of the Jordan, from the Arnon Gorge as far as Mount Hermon.y 9 (Hermon is called Sirionz by the Sidonians; the Amorites call it Senir.)a 10 We took all the towns on the plateau, and all Gilead, and all Bashan as far as Salekahb and Edrei, towns of Og’s kingdom in Bashan. 11 (Og king of Bashan was the last of the Rephaites.c His bed was decorated with iron and was more than nine cubits long and four cubits wide.c It is still in Rabbahd of the Ammonites.)

Division of the Land

12 Of the land that we took over at that time, I gave the Reubenites and the Gadites the territory north of Aroere by the Arnon Gorge, including half the hill country of Gilead, together with its towns. 13 The rest of Gilead and also all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh.f (The whole region of Argob in Bashan used to be known as a land of the Rephaites.g 14 Jair,h a descendant of Manasseh, took the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maakathites;i it was namedj after him, so that to this day Bashan is called Havvoth Jair.d) 15 And I gave Gilead to Makir.k 16 But to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave the territory extending from Gilead down to the Arnon Gorge (the middle of the gorge being the border) and out to the Jabbok River,l which is the border of the Ammonites. 17 Its western border was the Jordan in the Arabah,m from Kinnerethn to the Sea of the Arabaho (that is, the Dead Seap), below the slopes of Pisgah.

18 I commanded you at that time: “The Lord your God has givenq you this land to take possession of it. But all your able-bodied men, armed for battle, must cross over ahead of the other Israelites.r 19 However, your wives,s your children and your livestockt (I know you have much livestock) may stay in the towns I have given you, 20 until the Lord gives rest to your fellow Israelites as he has to you, and they too have taken over the land that the Lord your God is giving them across the Jordan. After that, each of you may go back to the possession I have given you.”

Moses Forbidden to Cross the Jordan

21 At that time I commanded Joshua: “You have seen with your own eyes all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms over there where you are going. 22 Do not be afraidu of them;v the Lord your God himself will fightw for you.”

23 At that time I pleadedx with the Lord: 24 “Sovereign Lord, you have begun to show to your servant your greatnessy and your strong hand. For what godz is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty worksa you do?b 25 Let me go over and see the good landc beyond the Jordan—that fine hill country and Lebanon.d”

26 But because of you the Lord was angrye with me and would not listen to me. “That is enough,” the Lord said. “Do not speak to me anymore about this matter. 27 Go up to the top of Pisgahf and look west and north and south and east.g Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to crossh this Jordan.i 28 But commissionj Joshua, and encouragek and strengthen him, for he will lead this people acrossl and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see.” 29 So we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor.m

Obedience Commanded

4 Now, Israel, hear the decreesn and laws I am about to teacho you. Follow them so that you may livep and may go in and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. 2 Do not addq to what I command you and do not subtractr from it, but keeps the commandst of the Lord your God that I give you.

3 You saw with your own eyes what the Lord did at Baal Peor.u The Lord your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, 4 but all of you who held fast to the Lord your God are still alive today.

5 See, I have taughtv you decrees and lawsw as the Lord my God commandedx me, so that you may follow them in the land you are enteringy to take possession of it. 6 Observez them carefully, for this will show your wisdoma and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”b 7 What other nation is so greatc as to have their gods neard them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? 8 And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and lawse as this body of laws I am setting before you today?

9 Only be careful,f 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. Teachg them to your childrenh and to their children after them. 10 Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb,i when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learnj to reverek me as long as they live in the landl and may teachm them to their children.” 11 You came near and stood at the foot of the mountainn while it blazed with fireo to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness.p 12 Then the Lord spokeq to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form;r there was only a voice.s 13 He declared to you his covenant,t the Ten Commandments,u which he commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets. 14 And the Lord directed me at that time to teach you the decrees and lawsv you are to follow in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.

Idolatry Forbidden

15 You saw no formw of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horebx out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully,y 16 so that you do not become corruptz and make for yourselves an idol,a an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, 17 or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air,b 18 or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below. 19 And when you look up to the sky and see the sun,c the moon and the starsd—all the heavenly arraye—do not be enticedf into bowing down to them and worshipingg things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. 20 But as for you, the Lord took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace,h out of Egypt,i to be the people of his inheritance,j as you now are.

21 The Lord was angry with mek because of you, and he solemnly swore that I would not cross the Jordan and enter the good land the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance. 22 I will die in this land;l I will not cross the Jordan; but you are about to cross over and take possession of that good land.m 23 Be careful not to forget the covenantn of the Lord your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idolo in the form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden. 24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire,p a jealous God.q

25 After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time—if you then become corruptr and make any kind of idol,s doing evilt in the eyes of the Lord your God and arousing his anger, 26 I call the heavens and the earth as witnessesu against youv this day that you will quickly perishw from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed. 27 The Lord will scatterx you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survivey among the nations to which the Lord will drive you. 28 There you will worship man-made godsz of wood and stone,a which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.b 29 But if from there you seekc the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heartd and with all your soul.e 30 When you are in distressf and all these things have happened to you, then in later daysg you will returnh to the Lord your God and obey him. 31 For the Lord your God is a mercifuli God; he will not abandonj or destroyk you or forgetl the covenant with your ancestors, which he confirmed to them by oath.

The Lord Is God

32 Askm now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created human beings on the earth;n ask from one end of the heavens to the other.o Has anything so greatp as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of? 33 Has any other people heard the voice of Goda speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived?q 34 Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation,r by testings,s by signst and wonders,u by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm,v or by great and awesome deeds,w like all the things the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

35 You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other.x 36 From heaven he made you hear his voicey to disciplinez you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire. 37 Because he loveda your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, he …