a strong and numerous people, as tall as the Anakim. But the LORD destroyed them from before the Ammonites so that they could dispossess them and settle in their place.
He did the same for the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, by destroying the Horim before them so that they could dispossess them and settle in their place even to this day.
As for the Avvim, who had lived in settlements in the vicinity of Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and settled in their place.)
“Proceed on your journey and cross the Wadi Arnon. See, I have handed over to you King Sihon the Amorite of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession by engaging him in battle.
This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples everywhere under heaven; when they hear report of you, they will tremble and be in anguish because of you.”
26 So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to King Sihon of Heshbon with the following terms of peace:
“If you let me pass through your land, I will travel only along the road; I will turn aside neither to the right nor to the left.
You shall sell me food for money, so that I may eat, and supply me water for money, so that I may drink. Only allow me to pass through on foot—
just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir have done for me and likewise the Moabites who live in Ar—until I cross the Jordan into the land that the LORD our God is giving us.”
But King Sihon of Heshbon was not willing to let us pass through, for the LORD your God had hardened his spirit and made his heart defiant in order to hand him over to you, as he has now done.
31 The LORD said to me, “See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin now to take possession of his land.”
So when Sihon came out against us, he and all his people for battle at Jahaz,
the LORD our God gave him over to us; and we struck him down, along with his offspring and all his people.
At that time we captured all his towns, and in each town we utterly destroyed men, women, and children. We left not a single survivor.
Only the livestock we kept as spoil for ourselves, as well as the plunder of the towns that we had captured.
From Aroer on the edge of the Wadi Arnon (including the town that is in the wadi itself) as far as Gilead, there was no citadel too high for us. The LORD our God gave everything to us.
You did not encroach, however, on the land of the Ammonites, avoiding the whole upper region of the Wadi Jabbok as well as the towns of the hill country, just as[4 (#ulink_b5cf908e-cc2b-5ace-a17f-d72a0f6d1a41)] the LORD our God had charged.
3 When we headed up the road to Bashan, King Og of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, for battle at Edrei.
The LORD said to me, “Do not fear him, for I have handed him over to you, along with his people and his land. Do to him as you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.”
So the LORD our God also handed over to us King Og of Bashan and all his people. We struck him down until not a single survivor was left.
At that time we captured all his towns; there was no citadel that we did not take from them—sixty towns, the whole region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
All these were fortress towns with high walls, double gates, and bars, besides a great many villages.
And we utterly destroyed them, as we had done to King Sihon of Heshbon, in each city utterly destroying men, women, and children.
But all the livestock and the plunder of the towns we kept as spoil for ourselves.
8 So at that time we took from the two kings of the Amorites the land beyond the Jordan, from the Wadi Arnon to Mount Hermon
(the Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, while the Amorites call it Senir),
all the towns of the tableland, the whole of Gilead, and all of Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, towns of Og’s kingdom in Bashan.
(Now only King Og of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. In fact his bed, an iron bed, can still be seen in Rabbah of the Ammonites. By the common cubit it is nine cubits long and four cubits wide.)
As for the land that we took possession of at that time, I gave to the Reubenites and Gadites the territory north of Aroer,[5 (#ulink_0143f862-50b4-5af4-bab6-ec5c93d109f9)] that is on the edge of the Wadi Arnon, as well as half the hill country of Gilead with its towns,
and I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh the rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, Og’s kingdom. (The whole region of Argob: all that portion of Bashan used to be called a land of Rephaim;
Jair the Manassite acquired the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and he named them—that is, Bashan—after himself, Havvoth-jair,[6 (#ulink_5ac53cc3-b9a0-5af2-b6e1-2968542cacdc)] as it is to this day.)
To Machir I gave Gilead.
And to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave the territory from Gilead as far as the Wadi Arnon, with the middle of the wadi as a boundary, and up to the Jabbok, the wadi being boundary of the Ammonites;
the Arabah also, with the Jordan and its banks, from Chinnereth down to the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea,[7 (#ulink_e6ee7262-a00f-5488-a653-272ce8d0740e)] with the lower slopes of Pisgah on the east.
18 At that time, I charged you as follows: “Although the LORD your God has given you this land to occupy, all your troops shall cross over armed as the vanguard of your Israelite kin.
Only your wives, your children, and your livestock—I know that you have much livestock—shall stay behind in the towns that I have given to you.
When the LORD gives rest to your kindred, as to you, and they too have occupied the land that the LORD your God is giving them beyond the Jordan, then each of you may return to the property that I have given to you.”
And I charged Joshua as well at that time, saying: “Your own eyes have seen everything that the LORD your God has done to these two kings; so the LORD will do to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross.
Do not fear them, for it is the LORD your God who fights for you.”
23 At that time, too, I entreated the LORD, saying:
“O Lord GOD, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your might; what god in heaven or on earth can perform deeds and mighty acts like yours!
Let me cross over to see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and the Lebanon.”
But the LORD was angry with me on your account and would not heed me. The LORD said to me, “Enough from you! Never speak to me of this matter again!
Go up to the top of Pisgah and look around you to the west, to the north, to the south, and to the east. Look well, for you shall not cross over this Jordan.
But charge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, because it is he who shall cross over at the head of this people and who shall secure their possession of the land that you will see.”
So we remained in the valley opposite Beth-peor.
4 So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.
You must neither add anything to what I command you nor take away anything from it, but keep the commandments of the LORD your God with which I am charging you.
You have seen for yourselves what the LORD did with regard to the Baal of Peor—how the LORD your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor,
while those of you who held fast to the LORD your God are all alive today.
