Deuteronomy 2–4

The Desert Years

2“Then we turned and ^ajourneyed into the wilderness of the Way of the Red Sea, ^bas the Lord spoke to me, and we ¹skirted Mount Seir for many days.

²“And the Lord spoke to me, saying: ³‘You have skirted this mountain ^clong enough; turn northward. ⁴And command the people, saying, ^d“You are about to pass through the territory of ^eyour brethren, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. Therefore watch yourselves carefully. ⁵Do not meddle with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as one footstep, ^fbecause I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. ⁶You shall buy food from them with money, that you may eat; and you shall also buy water from them with money, that you may drink.

⁷“For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your ²trudging through this great wilderness. ^gThese forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.” ’

⁸“And when we passed beyond our brethren, the descendants of Esau who dwell in Seir, away from the road of the plain, away from ^hElath and Ezion Geber, we ⁱturned and passed by way of the Wilderness of Moab. ⁹Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab, nor contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given ^jAr to ^kthe descendants of Lot as a possession.’ ”

^10l(The Emim had dwelt there in times past, a people as great and numerous and tall as ^mthe Anakim. ¹¹They were also regarded as ³giants, like the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim. ¹²ⁿThe Horites formerly dwelt in Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their ⁴place, just as Israel did to the land of their possession which the Lord gave them.)

¹³“ ‘Now rise and cross over ^othe ⁵Valley of the Zered.’ So we crossed over the Valley of the Zered. ¹⁴And the time we took to come ^pfrom Kadesh Barnea until we crossed over the Valley of the Zered was thirty-eight years, ^quntil all the generation of the men of war ⁶was consumed from the midst of the camp, ^rjust as the Lord had sworn to them. ¹⁵For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from the midst of the camp until they ⁷were consumed.

¹⁶“So it was, when all the men of war had finally perished from among the people, ¹⁷that the Lord spoke to me, saying: ¹⁸‘This day you are to cross over at Ar, the boundary of Moab. ¹⁹And when you come near the people of Ammon, do not harass them or meddle with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to ^sthe descendants of Lot as a possession.’ ”

²⁰(That was also regarded as a land of ⁸giants; giants formerly dwelt there. But the Ammonites call them ^tZamzummim, ^21ua people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim. But the Lord destroyed them before them, and they dispossessed them and dwelt in their place, ²²just as He had done for the descendants of Esau, ^vwho dwelt in Seir, when He destroyed ^wthe Horites from before them. They dispossessed them and dwelt in their place, even to this day. ²³And ^xthe Avim, who dwelt in villages as far as Gaza—^ythe Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and dwelt in their place.)

²⁴“ ‘Rise, take your journey, and ^zcross over the River Arnon. Look, I have given into your hand ^aSihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin ⁹to possess it, and engage him in battle. ^25bThis day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the nations ¹under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you, and shall ^ctremble and be in anguish because of you.’

King Sihon Defeated

²⁶“And I ^dsent messengers from the Wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon, ^ewith words of peace, saying, ^27f‘Let me pass through your land; I will keep strictly to the road, and I will turn neither to the right nor to the left. ²⁸You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat, and give me water for money, that I may drink; ^gonly let me pass through on foot, ^29hjust as the descendants of Esau who dwell in Seir and the Moabites who dwell in Ar did for me, until I cross the Jordan to the land which the Lord our God is giving us.’

³⁰ⁱ“But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through, for ^jthe Lord your God ^khardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that He might deliver him into your hand, as it is this day.

³¹“And the Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to ^lgive Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to possess it, that you may inherit his land.’ ^32mThen Sihon and all his people came out against us to fight at Jahaz. ³³And ⁿthe Lord our God delivered him ²over to us; so ^owe defeated him, his sons, and all his people. ³⁴We took all his cities at that time, and we ^putterly destroyed the men, women, and little ones of every city; we left none remaining. ³⁵We took only the livestock as plunder for ourselves, with the spoil of the cities which we took. ^36qFrom Aroer, which is on the bank of the River Arnon, and from ^rthe city that is in the ravine, as far as Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us; ^sthe Lord our God delivered all to us. ³⁷Only you did not go near the land of the people of Ammon—anywhere along the River ^tJabbok, or to the cities of the mountains, or ^uwherever the Lord our God had forbidden us.

King Og Defeated

3“Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan; and ^aOg king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle ^bat Edrei. ²And the Lord said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand; you shall do to him as you did to ^cSihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.’

³“So the Lord our God also delivered into our hands Og king of Bashan, with all his people, and we ¹attacked him until he had no survivors remaining. ⁴And we took all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities, ^dall the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ⁵All these cities were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a great many rural towns. ⁶And we utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king ^eof Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children of every city. ⁷But all the livestock and the spoil of the cities we took as booty for ourselves.

⁸“And at that time we took the ^fland from the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were on this side of the Jordan, from the River Arnon to Mount ^gHermon ⁹(the Sidonians call ^hHermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir), ¹⁰ⁱall the cities of the plain, all Gilead, and ^jall Bashan, as far as Salcah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

^11k“For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of ^lthe ²giants. Indeed his bedstead was an iron bedstead. (Is it not in ^mRabbah of the people of Ammon?) Nine cubits is its length and four cubits its width, according to the standard cubit.

The Land East of the Jordan Divided

¹²“And this ⁿland, which we possessed at that time, ^ofrom Aroer, which is by the River Arnon, and half the mountains of Gilead and ^pits cities, I gave to the Reubenites and the Gadites. ^13qThe rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to half the tribe of Manasseh. (All the region of Argob, with all Bashan, was called the land of the ³giants. ^14rJair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob, ^sas far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maachathites, and ^tcalled Bashan after his own name, ⁴Havoth Jair, to this day.)

¹⁵“Also I gave ^uGilead to Machir. ¹⁶And to the Reubenites ^vand the Gadites I gave from Gilead as far as the River Arnon, the middle of the river as the border, as far as the River Jabbok, ^wthe border of the people of Ammon; ¹⁷the plain also, with the Jordan as the border, from Chinnereth ^xas far as the east side of the Sea of the Arabah ^y(the Salt Sea), below the slopes of Pisgah.

¹⁸“Then I commanded you at that time, saying: ‘The Lord your God has given you this land to possess. ^zAll you men of valor shall cross over armed before your brethren, the children of Israel. ¹⁹But your wives, your little ones, and your livestock (I know that you have much livestock) shall stay in your cities which I have given you, ²⁰until the Lord has given ^arest to your brethren as to you, and they also possess the land which the Lord your God is giving them beyond the Jordan. Then each of you may ^breturn to his possession which I have given you.’

²¹“And ^cI commanded Joshua at that time, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings; so will the Lord do to all the kingdoms through which you pass. ²²You must not fear them, for ^dthe Lord your God Himself fights for you.’

Moses Forbidden to Enter the Land

²³“Then ^eI pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying: ²⁴‘O Lord God, You have begun to show Your servant ^fYour greatness and Your ⁵mighty hand, for ^gwhat god is there in heaven or on earth who can do anything like Your works and Your mighty deeds? ²⁵I pray, let me cross over and see ^hthe good land beyond the Jordan, those pleasant mountains, and Lebanon.’

²⁶“But the Lord ⁱwas angry with me on your account, and would not listen to me. So the Lord said to me: ‘Enough of that! Speak no more to Me of this matter. ^27jGo up to the top of Pisgah, and lift your eyes toward the west, the north, the south, and the east; behold it with your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan. ²⁸But ^kcommand ⁶Joshua, and encourage him and strengthen him; for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which you will see.’

²⁹“So we stayed in ^lthe valley opposite Beth Peor.

Moses Commands Obedience

4“Now, O Israel, listen to ^athe statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live, and go in and ¹possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you. ^2bYou shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it,…