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Chapter 2

Wanderings in the Desert

1Then we turned back and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea,Hebrew Yam Suph; that is, Sea of Reeds as the LORD had directed me. For a long time we made our way around the hill country of Seir.

2Then the LORD said to me,

3“You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north.

4Give the people these orders: ‘You are about to pass through the territory of your brothers the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, but be very careful.

5Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own.

6You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’”

7The LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast desert. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.

8So we went on past our brothers the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned from the Arabah road, which comes up from Elath and Ezion Geber, and traveled along the desert road of Moab.

9Then the LORD said to me, “Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any part of their land. I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession.”

10(The Emites used to live there—a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites.

11Like the Anakites, they too were considered Rephaites, but the Moabites called them Emites.

12Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land the LORD gave them as their possession.)

13And the LORD said, “Now get up and cross the Zered Valley.” So we crossed the valley.

14Thirty-eight years passed from the time we left Kadesh Barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley. By then, that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.

15The LORD's hand was against them until he had completely eliminated them from the camp.

16Now when the last of these fighting men among the people had died,

17the LORD said to me,

18“Today you are to pass by the region of Moab at Ar.

19When you come to the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them to war, for I will not give you possession of any land belonging to the Ammonites. I have given it as a possession to the descendants of Lot.”

20(That too was considered a land of the Rephaites, who used to live there; but the Ammonites called them Zamzummites.

21They were a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. The LORD destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place.

22The LORD had done the same for the descendants of Esau, who lived in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them. They drove them out and have lived in their place to this day.

23And as for the Avvites who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorites coming out from CaphtorThat is, Crete destroyed them and settled in their place.)

Defeat of Sihon King of Heshbon

24“Set out now and cross the Arnon Gorge. See, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his country. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle.

25This very day I will begin to put the terror and fear of you on all the nations under heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble and be in anguish because of you.”

26From the desert of Kedemoth I sent messengers to Sihon king of Heshbon offering peace and saying,

27“Let us pass through your country. We will stay on the main road; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left.

28Sell us food to eat and water to drink for their price in silver. Only let us pass through on foot—

29as the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, did for us—until we cross the Jordan into the land the LORD our God is giving us.”

30But Sihon king of Heshbon refused to let us pass through. For the LORD your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to give him into your hands, as he has now done.

31The LORD said to me, “See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his country over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land.”

32When Sihon and all his army came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz,

33the LORD our God delivered him over to us and we struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army.

34At that time we took all his towns and completely destroyedThe Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the LORD, often by totally destroying them. them—men, women and children. We left no survivors.

35But the livestock and the plunder from the towns we had captured we carried off for ourselves.

36From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the gorge, even as far as Gilead, not one town was too strong for us. The LORD our God gave us all of them.

37But in accordance with the command of the LORD our God, you did not encroach on any of the land of the Ammonites, neither the land along the course of the Jabbok nor that around the towns in the hills.

Chapter 3

Defeat of Og King of Bashan

1Next we turned and went up along the road toward Bashan, and Og king of Bashan with his whole army marched out to meet us in battle at Edrei.

2The LORD said to me, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.”

3So the LORD our God also gave into our hands Og king of Bashan and all his army. We struck them down, leaving no survivors.

4At that time we took all his cities. There was not one of the sixty cities that we did not take from them—the whole region of Argob, Og's kingdom in Bashan.

5All these cities were fortified with high walls and with gates and bars, and there were also a great many unwalled villages.

6We completely destroyedThe Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the LORD, often by totally destroying them. them, as we had done with Sihon king of Heshbon, destroyingThe Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the LORD, often by totally destroying them. every city—men, women and children.

7But all the livestock and the plunder from their cities we carried off for ourselves.

8So at that time we took from these two kings of the Amorites the territory east of the Jordan, from the Arnon Gorge as far as Mount Hermon.

9(Hermon is called Sirion by the Sidonians; the Amorites call it Senir.)

10We took all the towns on the plateau, and all Gilead, and all Bashan as far as Salecah and Edrei, towns of Og's kingdom in Bashan.

11(Only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaites. His bedOr sarcophagus was made of iron and was more than thirteen feet long and six feet wide.Hebrew nine cubits long and four cubits wide (about 4 meters long and 1.8 meters wide) It is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)

Division of the Land

12Of the land that we took over at that time, I gave the Reubenites and the Gadites the territory north of Aroer by the Arnon Gorge, including half the hill country of Gilead, together with its towns.

13The rest of Gilead and also all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half tribe of Manasseh. (The whole region of Argob in Bashan used to be known as a land of the Rephaites.

14Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites; it was named after him, so that to this day Bashan is called Havvoth Jair.Or called the settlements of Jair)

15And I gave Gilead to Makir.

16But to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave the territory extending from Gilead down to the Arnon Gorge (the middle of the gorge being the border) and out to the Jabbok River, which is the border of the Ammonites.

17Its western border was the Jordan in the Arabah, from Kinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt SeaThat is, the Dead Sea), below the slopes of Pisgah.

18I commanded you at that time: “The LORD your God has given you this land to take possession of it. But all your able-bodied men, armed for battle, must cross over ahead of your brother Israelites.

19However, your wives, your children and your livestock (I know you have much livestock) may stay in the towns I have given you,

20until the LORD gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they too have taken over the land that the LORD your God is giving them, across the Jordan. After that, each of you may go back to the possession I have given you.”

Moses Forbidden to Cross the Jordan

21At that time I commanded Joshua: “You have seen with your own eyes all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings. The LORD will do the same to all the kingdoms over there where you are going.

22Do not be afraid of them; the LORD your God himself will fight for you.”

23At that time I pleaded with the LORD:

24“O Sovereign LORD, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do?

25Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan—that fine hill country and Lebanon.”

26But because of you the LORD was angry with me and would not listen to me. “That is enough,” the LORD said. “Do not speak to me anymore about this matter.

27Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan.

28But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see.”

29So we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor.

Chapter 4

Obedience Commanded

1Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

2Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you.

3You saw with your own eyes what the LORD did at Baal Peor. The LORD your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor,

4but all of you who held fast to the LORD your God are still alive today.

5See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it.

6Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”

7What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him?

8And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?

9Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.

10Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.”

11You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness.

12Then the LORD spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice.

13He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments, which he commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets.

14And the LORD directed me at that time to teach you the decrees and laws you are to follow in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.

Idolatry Forbidden

15You saw no form of any kind the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully,

16so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman,

17or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air,

18or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below.

19And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.

20But as for you, the LORD took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of his inheritance, as you now are.

21The LORD was angry with me because of you, and he solemnly swore that I would not cross the Jordan and enter the good land the LORD your God is giving you as your inheritance.

22I will die in this land; I will not cross the Jordan; but you are about to cross over and take possession of that good land.

23Be careful not to forget the covenant of the LORD your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the LORD your God has forbidden.

24For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

25After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time—if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in the eyes of the LORD your God and provoking him to anger,

26I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed.

27The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you.

28There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.

29But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.

30When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and obey him.

31For the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath.

The LORD Is God

32Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created man on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of?

33Has any other people heard the voice of GodOr of a god speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived?

34Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by miraculous signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

35You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God; besides him there is no other.

36From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire.

37Because he loved your forefathers and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength,

38to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today.

39Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.

40Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all time.

Cities of Refuge

41Then Moses set aside three cities east of the Jordan,

42to which anyone who had killed a person could flee if he had unintentionally killed his neighbor without malice aforethought. He could flee into one of these cities and save his life.

43The cities were these: Bezer in the desert plateau, for the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.

Introduction to the Law

44This is the law Moses set before the Israelites.

45These are the stipulations, decrees and laws Moses gave them when they came out of Egypt

46and were in the valley near Beth Peor east of the Jordan, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon and was defeated by Moses and the Israelites as they came out of Egypt.

47They took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan.

48This land extended from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge to Mount SiyonHebrew; Syriac (see also Deut. 3:9) Sirion (that is, Hermon),

49and included all the Arabah east of the Jordan, as far as the Sea of the Arabah,That is, the Dead Sea below the slopes of Pisgah.