Deuteronomy 3
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 3
Defeat of Og. 1 Next we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og, the king of Bashan, came out against us, he and all his people, to give battle at Edrei. 2 But the Lord said to me, “Do not fear him, for I will deliver him and all his people and his land into your hands. You will do the same thing to him that you did to Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.” 3 The Lord, our God, delivered Og, the king of Bashan, and all his people into our hands. We continued to attack them until there was not a single survivor left. 4 This was when we captured all of his cities. There was not a single city that we did not take from them, sixty in all, the entire region of the Argob, the kingdom of Og of Bashan. 5 All of these cities were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars. There were also a great number of unfortified cities. 6 We totally destroyed them, just as we had destroyed Sihon, the king of Heshbon, wiping out the men, women, and children from every city. 7 But we took all the cattle and spoils of the cities as pillage.
8 This was when we took the land of two of the kings of the Amorites from their hands, land on the east of the Jordan, from the Arnon River to Mount Hermon. 9 (The Sidonians call Hermon Siron, while the Amorites call it Senir.) 10 This included all of the cities of the plain and all of Gilead and all of Bashan, up to Salecah and Edrei, cities in the kingdom of Og of Bashan. 11 (Og was the last of the remnant of the Rephaim. His bed was made of iron, and it was nine cubits long and four cubits wide. It is now in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)[a]
12 Distribution of Conquered Lands. From the land that we occupied at this time, I gave the Reubenites and the Gadites the land beginning at Aroer on the Arnon River and half of the hill country of Gilead as well as its cities. 13 I gave the rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (This was the whole region of Argob with all of Bashan, and it was known as the land of the Rephaim. 14 The clan of Jair, the son of Manasseh, took the entire region of Argob up to the borders with the Geshurites and the Maacathites. They named it after themselves, so that Bashan is known as Havvoth-jair until the present.) 15 [b]I gave Gilead to Machir. 16 I gave the Reubenites and the Gadites the land that stretched from Gilead up to the Arnon River (with the center of the valley being the boundary) and on to the Jabbok River, the border with the Ammonites. 17 Its border on the west was the Jordan in the Arabah, from the Kinnereth down to the Sea in the Arabah, the Salt Sea, at the foot of the slopes of the Pisgah.
18 At that time I commanded you, “The Lord, your God, has given you this land to possess. Have all of the armed men pass over in front of their brethren, the Israelites, armed for battle. 19 But your wives and your children and your cattle (for I know that you have many cattle) can remain in your cities that I have given you. 20 It will be this way until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as he already has to you, so that they also come to possess the land that the Lord, your God, has given them on the other side of the Jordan. Then, each of you can return to the property that I have given you.”
21 Then I commanded Joshua, “You have seen with your own eyes what the Lord, your God, has done to these two kings. This is what the Lord will do to any kingdom that you might encounter.[c] 22 Do not be afraid of them, for the Lord, your God, will fight for you.”
23 Moses Forbidden to Enter Jordan. At that time I pleaded with the Lord, 24 “O Lord God, you have begun to show your servant your greatness and your strong arm. What God in heaven or on earth can do such deeds and mighty works as yours? 25 Please let me cross over and see the bounteous land that is on the other side of the Jordan, the hill country and the Lebanon.”
26 But the Lord was angry with me because of you[d] and would not listen to me. The Lord said to me, “Enough! Do not speak to me about this anymore. 27 Climb up to the top of Pisgah and look to the west, the north, the south, and the east and see it with your own eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan. 28 But give orders to Joshua and encourage and strengthen him, for he is to lead this people across and he will give them the land that you see as an inheritance.” 29 So we remained in the valley opposite Beth-peor.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 3:11 The bed seems more like a tomb. The description may refer to a geological or archaeological discovery: perhaps one of the dolmens to be seen in the region of Amman. This verse, like verse 9 above, verses 13b-14a below, and, earlier, 2:20-23, is a kind of explanatory note inserted in the discourse, of which it is not a part.
- Deuteronomy 3:15 This assignment of land to the tribes refers to a period earlier than that in verses 12-13.
- Deuteronomy 3:21 Drawing attention to the past victories of the Israelites is the Lord’s way of encouraging them to trust that he will continue to be their stronghold against the Canaanites.
- Deuteronomy 3:26 Because of you: Moses points his finger outward for his inability to enter the Promised Land. There are conflicting passages as to who is to blame (see Deut 32:51; Num 20:12).
