‏ Deuteronomy 3

Israel Wins the Battle Over Og

1Next, we turned and went up along the road toward Bashan. Og marched out with his whole army. They fought against us at Edrei. Og was the king of Bashan. 2The Lord said to me, “Do not be afraid of Og. I have handed him over to you. I have also handed over his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon. Sihon was the Amorite king who ruled in Heshbon.”

3So the Lord our God also handed Og, the king of Bashan, and his whole army over to us. We struck them down. We didn’t leave any of them alive. 4At that time we took all his cities. There were 60 of them. We took the whole area of Argob. That was Og’s kingdom in Bashan. 5All those cities had high walls around them. The city gates were made secure with heavy metal bars. There were also large numbers of villages that didn’t have walls. 6We completely destroyed them. We did to them just as we had done to Sihon, the king of Heshbon. We destroyed all their cities. We destroyed the men, women and children. 7But we kept for ourselves the livestock and everything else we took from their cities.

8So at that time we took the territory east of the Jordan River. We captured it from those two Amorite kings. The territory goes all the way from the Arnon River valley to Mount Hermon. 9Hermon is called Sirion by the people of Sidon. The Amorites call it Senir. 10We captured all the towns on the high plains. We took the whole land of Gilead. And we captured the whole land of Bashan as far away as Salekah and Edrei. Those were towns that belonged to Og’s kingdom in Bashan. 11Og, the king of Bashan, was the only Rephaite left. His bed was decorated with iron. It was more than 13 feet long and six feet wide. It is still in the Ammonite city of Rabbah.

Moses Divides Up the Land

12I divided up the land we took over at that time. I gave the tribes of Reuben and Gad the territory north of Aroer by the Arnon River valley. It includes half of the hill country of Gilead together with its towns. 13I gave the rest of Gilead to half of the tribe of Manasseh. I also gave them the whole land of Bashan, the kingdom of Og. The whole area of Argob in Bashan used to be known as a land of the Rephaites. 14Jair took the whole area of Argob. He was from the family line of Manasseh. Argob goes all the way to the border of the people of Geshur and Maakah. It was named after Jair. So Bashan is called Havvoth Jair to this very day. 15I gave Gilead to Makir. 16But I gave to the tribes of Reuben and Gad the territory that reaches from Gilead down to the Arnon River valley. It goes all the way to the Jabbok River. The Jabbok is the northern border of Ammon. The middle of the Arnon River valley is its southern border. 17The western border of Reuben and Gad is the Jordan River in the Arabah Valley. It reaches from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea. It runs below the slopes of Pisgah.

18Here is the command I gave at that time to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh. I said, “The Lord your God has given you this land as your very own. But all your strong men must be prepared for battle. They must cross over ahead of the rest of the Israelites. 19But your wives and children can stay in the towns I’ve given you. You can keep your livestock there too. I know you have a lot of livestock. 20The Lord has given you peace and rest. Then let your families and livestock stay in those towns until the Lord gives peace and rest to the other tribes. And let your families stay until the other tribes have taken over the land the Lord your God is giving them. That land is across the Jordan River. After that, each of you may go back to the land I’ve given you as your very own.”

The Lord Will Not Allow Moses to Cross the Jordan River

21At that time I gave Joshua a command. I said, “Your own eyes have seen everything the Lord your God has done to Sihon and Og. He will do the same thing to all the kingdoms in the land where you are going. 22Don’t be afraid of them. The Lord your God himself will fight for you.”

23At that time I made my appeal to the Lord. I said, 24“Lord and King, you have begun to show me how great you are. You have shown me how strong your hand is. You do great works and mighty acts. There isn’t any god in heaven or on earth who can do what you do. 25Let me go across the Jordan River. Let me see the good land beyond it. I want to see that fine hill country and Lebanon.”

26But the Lord was angry with me because of what you did. He wouldn’t listen to me. “That is enough!” the Lord said. “Do not speak to me anymore about this matter. 27Go up to the highest slopes of Pisgah. Look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes. But you are not going to go across this Jordan River. 28So appoint Joshua as the new leader. Help him to be brave. Give him hope and strength. He will take these people across the Jordan. You will see the land. But he will lead them into it to take it as their own.” 29So we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor.