13Up now! Cross the wadi Zered!
So we crossed the wadi Zered. 14The time that we spent in travel from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the wadi Zered was thirty-eight years, until that whole generation of warriors had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn concerning them. 15Indeed, the hand of the LORD struck them, to root them out from the camp to the last man.
16When all the warriors among the people had died off, 17the LORD spoke to me, saying: 18You are now passing through the territory of Moab, through Ar. 19You will then be close to the Ammonites; do not harass them or start a fight with them. For I will not give any part of the land of the Ammonites to you as a possession; I have assigned it as a possession to the descendants of Lot.—
20It, too, is counted as Rephaim country. It was formerly inhabited by Rephaim, whom the Ammonites call Zamzummim, 21a people great and numerous and as tall as the Anakites. The LORD wiped them out, so that [the Ammonites] dispossessed them and settled in their place, 22as He did for the descendants of Esau who live in Seir, when He wiped out the Horites before them, so that they dispossessed them and settled in their place, as is still the case.b 23So, too, with the Avvim who dwelt in villages in the vicinity of Gaza: the Caphtorim, who came from Crete,c wiped them out and settled in their place.—
24Up! Set out across the wadi Arnon! See, I give into your power Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin the occupation: engage him in battle. 25This day I begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples everywhere under heaven, so that they shall tremble and quake because of you whenever they hear you mentioned.
26Then I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to King Sihon of Heshbon with an offer of peace, as follows, 27“Let me pass through your country. I will keep strictly to the highway, turning off neither to the right nor to the left. 28What food I eat you will supply for money, and what water I drink you will furnish for money; just let me pass throughd—29as the descendants of Esau who dwell in Seir did for me, and the Moabites who dwell in Ar—that I may cross the Jordan into the land that the LORD our God is giving us.”
30But King Sihon of Heshbon refused to let us pass through, because the LORD had stiffened his will and hardened his heart in order to deliver him into your power—as is now the case. 31And the LORD said to me: See, I begin by placing Sihon and his land at your disposal. Begin the occupation; take possession of his land.
32Sihon with all his men took the field against us at Jahaz, 33and the LORD our God delivered him to us and we defeated him and his sons and all his men. 34At that time we captured all his towns, and we doomede every town—men, women, and children—leaving no survivor. 35We retained as booty only the cattle and the spoil of the cities that we captured. 36From Aroer on the edge of the Arnon valley, including the townf in the valley itself, to Gilead, not a city was too mighty for us; the LORD our God delivered everything to us. 37But you did not encroach upon the land of the Ammonites, all along the wadi Jabbok and the towns of the hill country, just as the LORD our God had commanded.
3 We made our way up the road toward Bashan, and King Og of Bashan with all his men took the field against us at Edrei. 2But the LORD said to me: Do not fear him, for I am delivering him and all his men and his country into your power, and you will do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.
3So the LORD our God also delivered into our power King Og of Bashan, with all his men, and we dealt them such a blow that no survivor was left. 4At that time we captured all his towns; there was not a town that we did not take from them: sixty towns, the whole district of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan 5—all those towns were fortified with high walls, gates,a and bars—apart from a great number of unwalled towns. 6We doomed them as we had done in the case of King Sihon of Heshbon; we doomed every town—men, women, and children—7and retained as booty all the cattle and the spoil of the towns.
8Thus we seized, at that time, from the two Amorite kings, the country beyond the Jordan, from the wadi Arnon to Mount Hermon—9Sidonians called Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir—10all the towns of the Tableland and the whole of Gilead and Bashan as far as Salcahb and Edrei, the towns of Og’s kingdom in Bashan. 11Only King Og of Bashan was left of the remaining Rephaim. His bedstead, an iron bedstead, is now in Rabbah of the Ammonites; it is nine cubits long and four cubits wide, by c-the standard cubit!-c
12 dAnd this is the land which we apportioned at that time: The part from Aroer along the wadi Arnon, with part of the hill country of Gilead and its towns, I assigned to the Reubenites and the Gadites. 13The rest of Gilead, and all of Bashan under Og’s rule—the whole Argob district, all that part of Bashan which is called Rephaim country—I assigned to the half-tribe of Manasseh. 14Jair son of Manasseh received the whole Argob district (that is, Bashan) as far as the boundary of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and named it after himself: Havvoth-jaire—as is still the case. 15To Machir I assigned Gilead. 16And to the Reubenites and the Gadites I assigned the part from Gilead down to the wadi Arnon, the middle of the wadi being the boundary, and up to the wadi Jabbok, the boundary of the Ammonites.
17 f[We also seized] the Arabah, from the foot of the slopes of Pisgah on the east, to the edge of the Jordan, and from Chinnereth down to the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea.
18At that time I charged you,g saying, “The LORD your God has given you this country to possess. You must go as shock-troops, warriors all, at the head of your Israelite kinsmen. 19Only your wives, children, and livestock—I know that you have much livestock—shall be left in the towns I have assigned to you, 20until the LORD has granted your kinsmen a haven such as you have, and they too have taken possession of the land that the LORD your God is assigning them, beyond the Jordan. Then you may return each to the homestead that I have assigned to him.”
21I also charged Joshua at that time, saying, “You have seen with your own eyes all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings; so shall the LORD do to all the kingdoms into which you shall cross over. 22Do not fear them, for it is the LORD your God who will battle for you.”
23I pleaded with the LORD at that time, saying, 24“O Lord GOD, You who let Your servant see the first works of Your greatness and Your mighty hand, You whose powerful deeds no god in heaven or on earth can equal! 25Let me, I pray, cross over and see the good land on the other side of the Jordan, that good hill country, and the Lebanon.” 26But the LORD was wrathful with me on your account and would not listen to me. The LORD said to me, “Enough! Never speak to Me of this matter again! 27Go up to the summit of Pisgah and gaze about, to the west, the north, the south, and the east. Look at it well, for you shall not go across yonder Jordan. 28Give Joshua his instructions, and imbue him with strength and courage, for he shall go across at the head of this people, and he shall allot to them the land that you may only see.”
29Meanwhile we stayed on in the valley near Beth-peor.
4 And now, O Israel, give heed to the laws and rules that I am instructing you to observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2You shall not add anything to what I command you or take anything away from it, but keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I enjoin upon you. 3You saw with your own eyes what the LORD did in the matter of Baal-peor, that the LORD your God wiped out from among you every person who followed Baal-peor; 4while you, who held fast to the LORD your God, are all alive today.
5See, I have imparted to you laws and rules, as the LORD my God has commanded me, for you to abide by in the land that you are about to enter and occupy. 6Observe them faithfully, for that will be proof of your wisdom and discernment to other peoples, who on hearing of all these laws will say, “Surely, that great nation is a wise and discerning people.” 7For what great nation is there that has a god so close at hand as is the LORD our God whenever we call upon Him? 8Or what great nation has laws
