Deuteronomy chapter 3

Victory over Og of Bashan. The land east of the Jordan. Moses will not enter the Promised Land.

 


 

VICTORY OVER OG OF BASHAN

 

VERSE 1. Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan. Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.

 

VERSE 2. The LORD said to me, “Don’t fear him; for I have delivered him, with all his people and his land, into your hand. You shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.”

Don’t fear him. With the LORD God covertly operating on their behalf, there’s no reason for them to hesitate.

And with the LORD God covertly operating on our behalf, there’s no reason for us to hesitate.

 

VERSE 3. So the LORD our God also delivered into our hand Og, the king of Bashan, and all his people. We struck him until no one was left to him remaining.

the LORD our God delivered into our hand. There is a pattern in this chapter:

STEP 1. The LORD God makes known a plan.

STEP 2. His people do that thing. They are the doers. They wage the battle. They say, “We defeated him.”

STEP 3. The LORD God  makes it effective. His people identify it as a supernatural victory. God granted the victory.

If they didn’t fight the good fight (step 2), they wouldn’t have received the victory (step 3).

 

VERSE 4. We took all his cities at that time. There was not a city which we didn’t take from them: sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

sixty cities. That is a major victory!

 

VERSE 5. All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, in addition to a great many villages without walls.

fortified with high walls. In those days, walled cities were the strongest. And they took 60 of them!

 

VERSE 6. We utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones.

We utterly destroyed them. That was a fantastic achievement, given that walled cities were the strongest.

They destroyed 60 walled cities!

 

VERSE 7. But all the livestock, and the plunder of the cities, we took for plunder for ourselves.

 

VERSE 8. We took the land at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon.

 

VERSE 9. (The Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir.)

 

VERSE 10. We took all the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, to Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

 

VERSE 11. (For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron. Isn’t it in Rabbah of the children of Ammon? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its width, after the cubit of a man.)

Nine cubits. A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.

 

THE LAND EAST OF THE JORDAN

 

VERSE 12. This land we took in possession at that time: from Aroer, which is by the valley of the Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead with its cities, I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites;

the Reubenites and to the Gadites. They had asked for this land outside the Promised Land. They wanted it because it was ideal for livestock.

 

VERSE 13. and the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh—all the region of Argob, even all Bashan. (The same is called the land of Rephaim.

the half-tribe of Manasseh. They too will stay on this land outside the Promised Land.

 

VERSE 14. Jair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob, to the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and called them, even Bashan, after his own name, Havvoth Jair, to this day.)

 

VERSE 15. I gave Gilead to Machir.

 

VERSE 16. To the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave from Gilead even to the valley of the Arnon, the middle of the valley, and its border, even to the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon;

 

VERSE 17. the Arabah also, and the Jordan and its border, from Chinnereth even to the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah eastward.

 

VERSE 18. I commanded you at that time, saying, “The LORD your God has given you this land to possess it. All of you men of valor shall pass over armed before your brothers, the children of Israel.

 

VERSE 19. But your wives, and your little ones, and your livestock, (I know that you have much livestock), shall live in your cities which I have given you,

Joshua 1:14. Your wives, your children and your livestock may stay in the land that Moses gave you east of the Jordan, but all your fighting men, fully armed, must cross over ahead of your brothers. You are to help your brothers (NIV translation)

 

VERSE 20. until the LORD gives rest to your brothers, as to you, and they also possess the land which the LORD your God gives them beyond the Jordan. Then you shall each return to his own possession, which I have given you.”

Joshua 1:15. until the LORD gives them rest, as he has done for you, and until they too have taken possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving them. After that, you may go back and occupy your own land, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you east of the Jordan toward the sunrise. (NIV translation)

 

MOSES WILL NOT ENTER THE PROMISED LAND

 

VERSE 21. I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, “Your eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings. So shall the LORD do to all the kingdoms where you go over.

 

VERSE 22. You shall not fear them; for the LORD your God himself fights for you.”

the LORD your God himself fights for you. And yet this did not excuse them from doing their part. They still had to fight the fight.

 

VERSE 23. I begged GOD at that time, saying,

 

VERSE 24. “Lord GOD, you have begun to show your servant your greatness, and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or in earth that can do works like yours, and mighty acts like yours?

Lord. The Hebrew word translated “Lord” (mixed case) is “Adonai.”

 

VERSE 25. Please let me go over and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that fine mountain, and Lebanon.”

 

VERSE 26. But the LORD was angry with me because of you, and didn’t listen to me. The LORD said to me, “That is enough! Speak no more to me of this matter.

 

VERSE 27. Go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift up your eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and see with your eyes; for you shall not go over this Jordan.

Go up to the top of Pisgah. From there, Moses beheld the Promised Land.

 

VERSE 28. But commission Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him; for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which you shall see.”

 

VERSE 29. So we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor.

 


next chapter »

« previous chapter


DEUTERONOMY

CHAPTERS: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34

RESOURCES: Summary, Outline, Memorize

Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.