16When the last of these men fit for war died, and there was none of them left among the people, 17The Lord said to me: 18"Now you have to cross the border of Moab, near Ara,1178 19 and pass through the possessions of the Ammonites. Do not quarrel with them, nor give them cause to fear you, for I have given all that land to the seed of Lot, and nothing will ever be yours there."

20 These regions were once considered the land of the Rephaim, who had lived there from ancient times. The Ammonites then called them Zamzoommi. 21 They were a strong and numerous people, all tall as one, like the descendants of Anak. And yet the Lord destroyed them, and the Ammonites drove them out, raiding them, and settled there themselves. 22 And the Lord did the same for the descendants of Esau, now living in the mountainous country of Seir, when he destroyed the Choreans; then the descendants of Esau drove them out of those lands, and live there to this day. 23 The same fate befell the Abbites who lived in the villages as far as Gaza; but then another tribe appeared, coming from Caphtor[1179] – they destroyed all the Abbites and live there themselves.)

24The Lord said to us: "Move away! Cross the Arnon stream. Behold, before you is the Amorite Sihon, king of Heshbon, and his land, and I give it into your hands. Go and take possession of it by engaging in battle with Sihon. 25Know, then, that from now on I will cast all the nations under heaven into fear and terror before you. They will tremble at the mere rumor of you."

26And from the wilderness of Kedemot[1180] I sent messengers to Sihon king of Heshbon. They came to him with a peace proposal: 27"If you allow me to pass through your land, then I will keep to the straight path, not turning anywhere, neither to the right nor to the left. 28For the water and food that I take from you, I will pay in silver. All I need is to walk through your lands; 29The descendants of Esau in the land of Seir and the Moabites in Aren have allowed this to be done, and I will go with my people beyond the Jordan, to the land that the LORD our God is giving us."

30But Sihon, king of Heshbon, would not allow us to pass through his land, for the Lord your God had allowed the king to be stubborn and unyielding, so that he might deliver Sihon into your hands, as it happened. 31 And the Lord said to me before, 'I give you king Sihon and all his lands. So go and occupy them." 32 And when Shehon with all his army went forth to oppose us in the battle of Yah, 33the LORD our God delivered Sihon into our hands, as he had promised, and we slew them all, the king himself, and his sons, and all that people. 34Then we captured their cities and put them under a curse,[1182] leaving no one alive, neither men, nor children, nor women. 35Only the cattle and their goods in all the cities have been taken for themselves as booty. 36And nowhere in this land, from Aroer, in the valley of the Arnon, to Gilad, have we found a city whose walls could stand before us. The Lord our God has given us everything. 37Only to the lands of the Ammonites, on both sides of the Yabwok River, you did not even approach, nor to the cities in the mountains, for the LORD our God has commanded us so.

Overview of the events surrounding the defeat of Og, King of Bashan

3 Then we turned north and went along the road to Bashan. Og, the king of Bashan, marched against us with all his army to fight us at Edreya. 2The Lord said to me, "Do not be afraid of him, for I have given him into your hands, together with all his people and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon." 3The LORD our God has indeed delivered into our hands Og king Bashan and all his soldiers, and we have utterly defeated them. And again, not a single survivor. 4 Then we took all his cities. There is not a single one that we have not taken, sixty cities and the whole region of Argo, the possession of Og in Bashan. 5And those cities were fortified, with high walls and strong gates with secure bars, not to mention many unfortified villages. 6And We put those cities under a curse, as we did with the cities of Sihon king of Heshbon. We exterminated all the inhabitants there: men, women, and children. 7 Only the cattle and the spoils of war taken in those cities were kept for themselves.

8And so we took the lands of these two kings of the Amorites on the east side of the Jordan, their possessions from the river Arnon to Mount Hermon 9 (the Sidonians call this mountain Sirion, the Amorites call it Senir), 10we took all the cities in the plain, and all of Gilad, and Bashan also as far as Salhi and Edrea, the cities in the kingdom of Og, in Bashan. 11 (This Og, king of Bashan, was the last of the Rephaim. It is noteworthy that his couch[1183] is made of iron, it is nine cubits long,1184b and four cubits wide.

12 Of the land which we possessed at that time, I gave to the descendants of Reuben and Gad that part of it which begins from Aroer, which is situated in the valley of the Arnon, including the half of the Gilad highlands with its cities. 13And the other part of Gilad, as well as all of Bashan, where Og had formerly ruled, I gave half the tribe of Manasseh. (The whole region of the Args in Bashan was called the land of the Rephaim. 14 This region of the Args, up to the border of the lands of the descendants of Maahat and Geshur, was received by Yair, one of the descendants of Manasseh. 15And to the other descendants of Manasseh, those of the family of Machira, I gave the part of the Gilad highlands that remained after 16 the first half of Gilad was given to the descendants of Reuben and Gad as far as the valley of the Arnon (the border was in the middle of this river), as far as the river Yabvok, the border of the possessions of the descendants of Ammon. 17 The other boundary of their lands, from Kinneret to the Arava, that is, the Salt Sea,1186 and the foothills of Pisgah on the east, was the Jordan River with its valley.

18Then I gave you, the men of these three tribes, this command: "The Lord your God has given you this land to possess it. But you, those of you who are able to bear arms, must go ahead of your brethren, the children of Israel. 19And in the cities that you have received, let only your wives and children remain, and the cattle, of which I know you have plenty, 20until the Lord gives your brothers shelter,1187 as it was given to you, until they take for themselves the land beyond the Jordan which the Lord your God has assigned to them. Only then can you return to your domain, which I have secured for you." 21At that time I also commanded Joshua: "You have seen with your own eyes what the LORD your God has done to the two kings of the Americans. He will do the same to all the kingdoms beyond the river where you are going. 22Do not be afraid of them! For the Lord your God himself will fight for you."

About an unfulfilled innermost desire

23 And then I lifted up my supplication to the Lord, saying, 24, "Lord, Lord! Now that you have begun to show me, your servant, your majesty and the power of your hand in deeds so mighty that no god in heaven or on earth can compete with them, 25will you not allow me to cross the river and see the wondrous country beyond the Jordan, these beautiful mountains and the blooming Lebanon?" 26But the Lord was still angry with me because of you, and did not heed my request. He said to me: "It will be done to you! Don't tell me any more about it! 27Go up to the top of Pisg, and turn your eyes to the west, and to the north, and to the south, and to the east. and consider all things with your own eyes, for you are not destined to cross the Jordan. 28Give instructions to Joshua, encourage and strengthen his spirit, for he will lead these people beyond the Jordan and make the land you see become their inheritance."

29So we stopped in a valley near Beth Peor.

A Call to Obedience