Study

a Bible passage

Click a verse to see commentary

Select a resource above

Defeat of King Og

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. ²The L ord 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.” ³So the L ord 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. ⁴At 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. ⁵All these were fortress towns with high walls, double gates, and bars, besides a great many villages. ⁶And we utterly destroyed them, as we had done to King Sihon of Heshbon, in each city utterly destroying men, women, and children. ⁷But 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 ⁹(the Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, while the Amorites call it Senir), ¹⁰all 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. ¹¹(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.) ¹²As for the land that we took possession of at that time, I gave to the Reubenites and Gadites the territory north of Aroer, that is on the edge of the Wadi Arnon, as well as half the hill country of Gilead with its towns, ¹³and 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; ¹⁴Jair 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, as it is to this day.) ¹⁵To Machir I gave Gilead. ¹⁶And 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; ¹⁷the Arabah also, with the Jordan and its banks, from Chinnereth down to the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, with the lower slopes of Pisgah on the east.

¹⁸ At that time, I charged you as follows: “Although the L ord your God has given you this land to occupy, all your troops shall cross over armed as the vanguard of your Israelite kin. ¹⁹Only 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. ²⁰When the L ord gives rest to your kindred, as to you, and they too have occupied the land that the L ord your God is giving them beyond the Jordan, then each of you may return to the property that I have given to you.” ²¹And I charged Joshua as well at that time, saying: “Your own eyes have seen everything that the L ord your God has done to these two kings; so the L ord will do to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross. ²²Do not fear them, for it is the L ord your God who fights for you.”

Moses Views Canaan from Pisgah

²³ At that time, too, I entreated the L ord, saying: ²⁴“O Lord G od, 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! ²⁵Let me cross over to see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and the Lebanon.” ²⁶But the L ord was angry with me on your account and would not heed me. The L ord said to me, “Enough from you! Never speak to me of this matter again! ²⁷Go 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. ²⁸But 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.” ²⁹So we remained in the valley opposite Beth-peor.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

12. And this land, which we possessed at that time. In this passage Moses confirms his decision, that the possession of the country beyond Jordan should be insured to the Reubenites and Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh. For, since it had fallen to them exceptionally, the matter might be brought into controversy with posterity. Lest, then, any should disturb them, he again declares that they were the rightful possessors of that district. Moreover, inasmuch as the very gift of it might be called in question, since it was situated outside the bounds of the inheritance promised by God, Moses anticipates this objection also, asserting that God had not in vain given it to be possessed by His people. Hence it follows that the right of inhabiting it was conferred upon them. Lest, then, so unequal a partition should be made a subject of contention, he marks out their boundaries on every side, as though he set up the authority of God as a wall and rampart against any who should presume to invade it.

With reference to the names of the places, the Dead Sea is called the Sea of Salt, and the Lake of Genesera or Gennesareth, Chinnereth. As to the “outpourings of the hill,” translators are not agreed; for some consider Ashdoth-Pisgah to be the proper name of a city. ²²⁰²²⁰ אשדת הפסגה A.V. “Ashdoth-Pisgah;” marg., “The springs of Pisgah, or, of the hill.” The LXX. in like manner only substitutes Greek letters for the Hebrew, treating both words as proper names. But when the same words occur at the close of the next chapter, our translators have placed their previous marginal translation in their text, and the LXX. instead of Φασγὰ have τὴν λαξευτήν, as though פסגה were an appellative, from פסג to cut. In construing אשדת as a noun, from אשד and rendering it effusions, C. followed S.M., as also in putting the hill for Pisgah. Our translators and Luther have agreed in rendering the former word springs, when it occurs in Joshua 10:40, and 12:8; whilst the LXX. and Diodati have treated it as a proper name in both those texts. — W I prefer, however, to take the word “outpourings” (effusionum) appellatively, not for fountains and streams, but for the root (of the hill) where the ground by a gentle descent seems in a manner to pour itself forth. We shall presently see that Pisgah was one of the summits of Mount Abarim.

²²⁰ אשדת הפסגה A.V. “Ashdoth-Pisgah;” marg., “The springs of Pisgah, or, of the hill.” The LXX. in like manner only substitutes Greek letters for the Hebrew, treating both words as proper names. But when the same words occur at the close of the next chapter, our translators have placed their previous marginal translation in their text, and the LXX. instead of Φασγὰ have τὴν λαξευτήν, as though פסגה were an appellative, from פסג to cut. In construing אשדת as a noun, from אשד and rendering it effusions, C. followed S.M., as also in putting the hill for Pisgah. Our translators and Luther have agreed in rendering the former word springs, when it occurs in Joshua 10:40, and 12:8; whilst the LXX. and Diodati have treated it as a proper name in both those texts. — W