Fighting the People of Bashan

3 “We turned and went on the road to Bashan. Og, the king of Bashan, and all his men came out to fight against us at Edrei. ²The Lord said to me, ‘Don’t be afraid of Og. I have decided to give him to you. I will give you all his men and his land. You will defeat him just like you defeated Sihon, the Amorite king who ruled in Heshbon.’ ³“So the Lord our God let us defeat Og, the king of Bashan. We destroyed him and all his men. None of them were left. ⁴Then we took all the cities that belonged to Og at that time. We took all the cities from Og’s people—60 cities in the area of Argob, Og’s kingdom in Bashan. ⁵All these cities were very strong. They had high walls, gates, and strong bars on the gates. There were also many towns that did not have walls. ⁶We destroyed them just like we destroyed the cities of Sihon king of Heshbon. We completely destroyed every city and all the people in them, even the women and the babies. ⁷But we kept all the cows and the valuable things from the cities for ourselves. ⁸“In that way, we took the land from the two Amorite kings. We took that land on the east side of the Jordan River, from Arnon Valley to Mount Hermon. ⁹(The people from Sidon call Mount Hermon, Sirion. But the Amorites called it Senir.) ¹⁰We took all the cities in the high plain and all of Gilead. We took all of Bashan, all the way to Salecah and Edrei. Salecah and Edrei were cities of Og’s kingdom of Bashan.” (¹¹Og was the king of Bashan. Og was one of the few Rephaite people still alive. Og’s bed was made from iron. It was over 13 feet long and 6 feet wide.* The bed is still in the city of Rabbah, where the Ammonite people live.)

The Land East of the Jordan River

¹²“So we took that land to be ours. I gave part of this land to the families groups of Reuben and Gad. I gave them the land from Aroer in the Arnon Valley to the hill country of Gilead with the cities in it. They got half of the hill country of Gilead. ¹³I gave the other half of Gilead and the whole area of Bashan to half of the family group of Manasseh.” (Bashan was Og’s kingdom. Part of Bashan was called Argob. It was also called the Land of Rephaim. ¹⁴Jair, from the family group of Manasseh, took the whole area of Argob (Bashan). That area went all the way to the border of the Geshurite people and the Maacathite people. That area was named for Jair. So even today, people call Bashan the Towns of Jair.) ¹⁵“I gave Gilead to Makir. ¹⁶And to the Reuben family group and the Gad family group, I gave the land that begins at Gilead. This land goes from the Arnon Valley to the Jabbok River. The middle of the valley is one border. The Jabbok River is the border for the Ammonite people. ¹⁷The Jordan River near the desert is their western border. Lake Galilee* is north of this area and the Dead Sea* (the Salt Sea) is to the south. It is at the bottom of the cliffs of Pisgah. They are to the east. ¹⁸“At that time, I gave those family groups this command: ‘The Lord your God has given you the land on this side of the Jordan River to live in. But now your fighting men must take their weapons and lead the other Israelite family groups across the river. ¹⁹Your wives, your little children, and your cows (I know you have many cows) will stay here in the cities I have given you. ²⁰But you must help your Israelite relatives until they take the land that the Lord is giving them on the other side of the Jordan River. Help them until the Lord gives them peace there, just as he did for you here. Then you may come back to this land that I have given you.’ ²¹“Then I told Joshua, ‘You have seen all the things the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same thing to all the kingdoms you will enter. ²²Don’t fear the kings of these lands, because the Lord your God will fight for you.’

Moses Not Allowed In Canaan

²³“Then I begged the Lord to do something special for me. I said, ²⁴‘Lord my Master, I am your servant. I know that you have shown me only a small part of the wonderful and powerful things you will do. There is no god in heaven or earth that can do the great and powerful things you have done! ²⁵Please let me go across the Jordan River and see the good land on the other side. Let me see the beautiful hill country and Lebanon.’ ²⁶“But the Lord was angry at me because of you. He refused to listen to me. The Lord said to me, ‘That’s enough! Don’t say another word about this. ²⁷Go up to the top of Mount Pisgah. Look to the west, to the north, to the south, and to the east. You may see these things with your eyes, but you can never go across the Jordan River. ²⁸You must give instructions to Joshua. Encourage him. Make him strong! Why? Because Joshua must lead the people across the Jordan River. You can see the land, but Joshua will lead them into that land. He will help them take the land and live in it.’ ²⁹“So we stayed in the valley across from Beth Peor.”

13 feet long and 6 feet wide Literally, “9 cubits long and 4 cubits wide, following the measure of a man’s cubit.” Lake Galilee Literally, “Kinnereth Lake.” Dead Sea Literally, “Arabah Sea.”

Moses’ Warning to Obey God’s Laws

4 “Now, Israel, listen to the laws and to the commands that I teach you. Obey them and you will live. Then you can go in and take the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. ²You must not add to the things that I command you. And you must not take anything away. You must obey the commands of the Lord your God that I have given you. ³“You have seen what the Lord did at Baal Peor. The Lord your God destroyed all your people who followed the false god Baal* at that place. ⁴But all of you who stayed with the Lord your God are alive today. ⁵“I taught you the laws and rules that the Lord my God commanded me. I taught you these laws so that you could obey them in the land you are ready to enter and take for your own. ⁶Obey these laws carefully. This will show the people of the other nations that you are wise and understanding. The people of those nations will hear about these laws. Then they will say, ‘Truly, the people of this great nation (Israel) are wise and understanding.’ ⁷“The Lord our God is near when we ask him to help us. No other nation has a god like that! ⁸And no other nation is great enough to have laws and rules as good as the teachings I give you today. ⁹But you must be careful! Be sure that as long as you live you never forget the things you have seen. You must teach those things to your children and grandchildren. ¹⁰Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Mount Horeb (Sinai). The Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people together to listen to the things I say. Then they will learn to respect me as long as they live on earth. And they will teach these things to their children.’ ¹¹You came near and stood at the bottom of the mountain. The mountain burned with fire that reached up to the sky. There were thick black clouds and darkness. ¹²Then the Lord spoke to you from the fire. You heard the sound of someone speaking, but you did not see any form. There was only a voice. ¹³The Lord told you his Agreement. He told you the Ten Commandments and commanded you to follow them. The Lord wrote those laws of the Agreement on two stone tablets. ¹⁴At that time, the Lord also commanded me to teach you the other laws and rules that you must follow in the land you are going to take and live in. ¹⁵“On the day the Lord spoke to you from the fire at Mount Horeb (Sinai), you did not see him—there was no shape for God. ¹⁶So be careful! Don’t sin and destroy yourselves by making false gods or statues in the shape of any living thing. Don’t make an idol that looks like a man or a woman. ¹⁷Don’t make an idol that looks like an animal on the earth or like a bird that flies in the sky. ¹⁸And don’t make an idol that looks like anything that crawls on the ground or like a fish in the sea. ¹⁹And be careful when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon, and the stars—all the many things in the sky. Be careful that you are not tempted to worship and serve those things. The Lord your God lets the other people in the world do those things. ²⁰But the Lord brought you out of Egypt and made you his own special people. It was as if the Lord reached into a hot furnace for melting iron and pulled you out of that fire. And now you are his people! ²¹“The Lord became angry at me because of you. The Lord swore (promised) that I could not go across the Jordan River. He told me that I could not go into the good land that the Lord your God is giving you. ²²So I must die here in this land. I can’t go across the Jordan River, but you will soon go across and take that good land and live there. ²³In that new land, you must be careful not to forget the Agreement that the Lord your God made with you. You must obey the Lord’s command. Don’t make any idols in any form! ²⁴Why? Because the Lord your God hates for his people to worship other gods. And the Lord can be like a fire that destroys! ²⁵“You will live in the country a long time. You will have children and grandchildren there. You will grow old there. And then you will ruin your lives—you will make all kinds of idols! When you do that, you will make God very angry! ²⁶So, I am warning you now. Heaven and earth are my witnesses! If you do that evil thing, then you will quickly be destroyed! You are crossing the Jordan River now to take that land. But if you make any idols, then you will not live there very long. No, you will be completely destroyed! ²⁷The Lord will scatter you among the nations. And only a few of you will be left alive to go to the countries where the Lord will send you. ²⁸There you will serve gods made by men—things made of wood and stone that can’t see or hear or eat or smell! ²⁹But there in these other lands you will look for the Lord your God. And if you look for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him. ³⁰When you are in trouble—when all those things happen to you—then you will come back to the Lord your God and obey him. ³¹The Lord your God is a merciful God! He will not leave you there. He will not destroy you completely. He will not forget the Agreement that he made with your ancestors.*

Think About the Great Things God Did

³²“Has anything this great ever happened before? Never! Look at the past. Think about all the things that happened before you were born. Go all the way back to the time when God made people on the earth. Look at all the things that have happened anywhere in the world. Has anyone ever heard about anything as great as this? No! ³³You people heard God speaking to you from a fire, and you are still alive! Has that ever happened to anyone else? No! ³⁴And has any other god ever tried to go and take a people for himself from inside another nation? No! But you yourselves have seen the Lord your God do all these wonderful things! He showed you his power and strength. You saw the troubles that tested the people. You saw miracles and wonders. You saw war and the terrible things that happened. ³⁵The Lord showed you these things so that you would know that he is God. There is no other god like him! ³⁶The Lord let you hear his voice from heaven so he could teach you a lesson. On earth he let you see his great fire, and he spoke to you from it. ³⁷“The Lord loved your ancestors.* That is why he chose you, their descendants.* And that is why the Lord brought you out of Egypt. He was with you and brought you out with his great power. ³⁸When you moved forward, the Lord forced out nations that were greater and more powerful than you. And the Lord led you into their land. He gave you their land to live in. And is still doing that today. ³⁹“So today you must remember and accept that the Lord is God. He is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other God! ⁴⁰And you must obey his laws and commands that I give you today. Then everything will go well with you and your children who live after you. And you will live a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving you—it will be yours forever!”

Moses Chooses the Cities of Safety

⁴¹Then Moses chose three cities on the east side of the Jordan River. ⁴²If a person accidentally killed another person, he could run away to one of those three cities and not be put to death. But he could be safe only if he did not hate the other person and did not mean to kill him. ⁴³The three cities that Moses chose were: Bezer in the high plains for Reuben’s family group; Ramoth in Gilead for Gad’s family group; and Golan in Bashan for Manasseh’s family group.

Introduction to the Law of Moses

⁴⁴Moses gave God’s law to the people of Israel. ⁴⁵Moses gave these teachings, laws, and rules to the people after they came out of Egypt. ⁴⁶Moses gave them these laws while they were on the east side of the Jordan River, in the valley across from Beth Peor. They were in the land of Sihon, the Amorite king that lived at Heshbon. (Moses and the people of Israel had defeated Sihon when they came out of Egypt. ⁴⁷They took Sihon’s land to keep. They also took the land of Og, the king of Bashan. These two Amorite kings lived on the east side of the Jordan River. ⁴⁸This land goes from Aroer on the edge of the Arnon Valley all the way to Mount Sirion* (Mount Hermon). ⁴⁹This land also included the whole Jordan Valley on the east side of the Jordan River. To the south, this land reached to the Dead Sea.* To the east, it reached to the foot of Mount Pisgah.)

Baal A false god that the Canaanite people worshiped. ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents, grandparents, and all the people they are descended from. descendants A person’s children and their future families. Sirion Or “Siyon.” Dead Sea Literally, “Arabah Sea.”