Meditate

3. Division of the Land

Defeat of King Og

 3

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 Lord 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 Lord 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 Hermon⁹(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 Lord 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 Lord gives rest to your kindred, as to you, and they too have occupied the land that the Lord 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 Lord your God has done to these two kings; so the Lord will do to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross.²²Do not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you.”

Moses Views Canaan from Pisgah

²³ At that time, too, I entreated the Lord, saying:²⁴“O Lord God, 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 Lord was angry with me on your account and would not heed me. The Lord 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.

1. God of All Comfort

¹⁵ Since I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a double favor;¹⁶I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on to Judea.¹⁷Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to ordinary human standards, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time?¹⁸As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been “Yes and No.”¹⁹For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not “Yes and No”; but in him it is always “Yes.”²⁰For in him every one of God’s promises is a “Yes.” For this reason it is through him that we say the “Amen,” to the glory of God.²¹But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us,²²by putting his seal on us and giving us his Spirit in our hearts as a first installment.

142. Psalm 142

Psalm 142

Prayer for Deliverance from Persecutors

A Maskil of David. When he was in the cave. A Prayer.

1

With my voice I cry to the Lord;

with my voice I make supplication to the Lord.

2

I pour out my complaint before him;

I tell my trouble before him.

3

When my spirit is faint,

you know my way.

In the path where I walk

they have hidden a trap for me.

4

Look on my right hand and see—

there is no one who takes notice of me;

no refuge remains to me;

no one cares for me.

5

I cry to you, O Lord;

I say, “You are my refuge,

my portion in the land of the living.”

6

Give heed to my cry,

for I am brought very low.

Save me from my persecutors,

for they are too strong for me.

7

Bring me out of prison,

so that I may give thanks to your name.

The righteous will surround me,

for you will deal bountifully with me.