Deuteronomy 3 - 4
Israel Takes Possession of the Land
3“aThen we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og king of Bashan, 1with all his people, came out to meet us in battle at Edrei. 2“But Yahweh said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have given him and all his people and his land over into your hand; and you shall do to him just as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.’ 3“So Yahweh our God also gave Og, king of Bashan, with all his people over into our hand, and we struck 1them until 2there was no survivor remaining for him. 4“And we captured all his cities at that time; there was not a town which we did not take from them: sixty cities, all the region of aArgob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 5“All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates and bars, besides a great many 1unwalled towns. 6“And we 1devoted them to destruction, as we did to aSihon king of Heshbon, 2,bdevoting to destruction 3the men, women, and little ones of every city. 7“aBut all the animals and the spoil of the cities we took as our plunder.
8“aThus we took the land at that time from the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the 1valley of Arnon to Mount Hermon 9(Sidonians acall Hermon bSirion, and the Amorites call it cSenir): 10all the cities of the plateau and all Gilead and aall Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 11(For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the aRephaim. Behold, his 1bedstead was an iron 2bedstead; it is in bRabbah of the sons of Ammon. Its length was 3nine cubits, and its width four cubits 4by ordinary cubit.)
12“So we took possession of this land at that time. From aAroer, which is by the 1valley of Arnon, and half the hill country of bGilead and its cities I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites. 13“And the rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh, all the region of Argob. (Concerning all Bashan, it is called the land of Rephaim. 14aJair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites and called 1it—that is, Bashan—after his own name, 2Havvoth-jair, as it is to this day.) 15“aAnd to Machir I gave Gilead. 16“And to the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave from Gilead even as far as the 1valley of Arnon, the middle of the 2valley 3as a border and as far as the 4river aJabbok, the border of the sons of Ammon; 17the Arabah also, with the Jordan 1as a border, from 2,aChinnereth beven as far as the sea of the Arabah, cthe Salt Sea, 3at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah on the east.
18“Then I commanded you at that time, saying, ‘aYahweh your God has given you this land to possess it; ball you men of valor shall cross over armed before your brothers, the sons of Israel. 19‘aBut your wives and your little ones and your livestock (I know that you have bmuch livestock) shall remain in your cities which I have given you, 20auntil Yahweh gives rest to your brothers as to you, and they also possess the land which Yahweh your God will give them beyond the Jordan. bThen you may return, every man to his possession which I have given you.’ 21“And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen all that Yahweh your God has done to these two kings; so Yahweh shall do to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross. 22‘Do not fear them, for Yahweh your God ais the one fighting for you.’
Moses Pleads to Cross the Jordan
23“I also pleaded with Yahweh at that time, saying, 24‘O Lord Yahweh, You have begun to show Your slave aYour greatness and Your strong hand; for what bgod is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as Yours? 25‘Let me, I pray, cross over and see the agood land that is beyond the Jordan, 1that good hill country and Lebanon.’ 26“But aYahweh was angry with me on your account and would not listen to me; and Yahweh said to me, ‘1Enough! Speak to Me no more of this matter. 27‘Go up to the top of aPisgah and lift up your eyes to the west and north and south and east, and see it with your eyes, bfor you shall not cross over this Jordan. 28‘aBut command Joshua and strengthen him and encourage him, bfor he shall go across 1at the head of this people, and he will cause them to inherit the land which you will see.’ 29“So we remained in the valley opposite aBeth-peor.
Keep the Commandments of Yahweh
4“So now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which aI am teaching you to do, so that byou may live and go in and take possession of the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2“aYou shall not add to the word which bI am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God which I am commanding you. 3“aYour eyes have seen what Yahweh has done in the case of Baal-peor, for all the men who walked after Baal-peor, Yahweh your God has destroyed 1them from among you. 4“But you who clung to Yahweh your God are alive today, every one of you.
5“See, I have taught you statutes and judgments ajust as Yahweh my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it. 6“You shall keep and do them, afor that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ 7“For awhat great nation is there that has a god bso near to it as is Yahweh our God cwhenever we call on Him? 8“Or what great nation is there that has astatutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?
9“Only akeep yourself and keep your soul very carefully, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen and lest they depart from your heart ball the days of your life. But cmake them known to your sons and to your grandsons. 10“Remember the day you stood before Yahweh your God at Horeb, when Yahweh said to me, ‘Assemble the people to Me, that I may cause them to hear My words aso they may learn to 1fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may bteach their children.’ 11“And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, aand the mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud, and dense gloom. 12“Then Yahweh spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form—only a voice. 13“So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to do, that is, athe Ten 1Commandments; and bHe wrote them on two tablets of stone. 14“And Yahweh commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it.
15“So akeep your souls very carefully, since you did not see any bform on the day Yahweh spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, 16lest you aact corruptly and bmake a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of aany winged bird that flies in the sky, 18the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water below the earth, 19and lest you lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, aall the host of heaven, band be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which Yahweh your God has apportioned for all the peoples under the whole heaven. 20“But Yahweh has taken you and brought you out of athe iron furnace, from Egypt, to bbe a people for His own inheritance, as today.
21“aNow Yahweh was angry with me on your account and swore that I would not cross the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance. 22“For aI will die in this land, I shall not cross the Jordan, but you shall cross and take possession of this bgood land. 23“So keep yourselves, alest you forget the covenant of Yahweh your God which He cut with you and bmake for yourselves a graven image in the form of anything against which Yahweh your God has commanded you. 24“For Yahweh your God is a aconsuming fire, a bjealous God.
25“When you 1become the father of children and children’s children and remain long in the land and aact corruptly and bmake 2a graven image in the form of anything and cdo that which is evil in the sight of Yahweh your God so as to provoke Him to anger, 26I acall heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will bsurely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it. You shall not prolong your days on it, but will be utterly destroyed. 27“And Yahweh will ascatter you among the peoples, and you will remain few in number among the nations where Yahweh drives you. 28“aAnd there you will serve gods, the work of man’s hands, bwood and stone, cwhich neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. 29“aBut from there you will seek Yahweh your God, and you will find Him, for you will search for Him bwith all your heart and all your soul. 30“When you aare in distress and all these things have come upon you, bin the last days cyou will return to Yahweh your God and listen to His voice. 31“For Yahweh your God is a acompassionate God; bHe will not fail you nor cdestroy you nor dforget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.
32“Indeed, aask now concerning the former days which were before you, since the bday that God created 1man on the earth, and inquire cfrom one end of the heavens to the other. dHas anything been done like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it? 33“aHas any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and lived? 34“aOr has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation bwith trials, with signs and wonders and with war and cwith a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terrors, 1as Yahweh your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35“To you it was shown that you might know that Yahweh, He is God; athere is no other besides Him. 36“aOut of the heavens He caused you to hear His voice bto discipline you; and on earth He caused you to see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire. 37“1,aBecause He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their seed after them. And He 2,bpersonally brought you from Egypt by His great power, 38dispossessing before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in and ato give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today. 39“Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that aYahweh, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other. 40“aSo you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am commanding you today, that bit may go well with you and with your children after you, and cthat you may prolong your days on the land which Yahweh your God is giving you for all the days.”
41aThen Moses set apart three cities across the Jordan to the east toward the sunrise, 42that a manslayer might flee there, who slew his neighbor 1without premeditation, 2not hating him previously; so he shall flee to one of these cities that he might live: 43aBezer in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites, and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.
44Now this is the law which Moses set before the sons of Israel; 45these are the testimonies and the statutes and the judgments which Moses spoke to the sons of Israel when they came out from Egypt, 46across the Jordan, in the valley aopposite Beth-peor, in the land of bSihon king of the Amorites who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the sons of Israel struck down when they came out from Egypt. 47And they took possession of his land and the land of aOg king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were across the Jordan to the east toward the sunrise, 48from aAroer, which is on the edge of the 1valley of Arnon, even as far as bMount Sion (that is, Hermon), 49with all the Arabah across the Jordan to the east, even as far as the sea of the Arabah, 1at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah.