Deuteronomy 3 · WEB
Victory Over Og and the Division of Transjordan
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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.
2The LORD said to me, "Don't be afraid of him; for I have delivered him and 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."
3So the LORD our God also delivered into our hand Og the king of Bashan, and all his people; and we struck him until no one was left to him remaining.
4We 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.
5All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars; besides a great many rural towns.
6We utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones.
7But all the livestock and the plunder of the cities, we took for ourselves as plunder.
8We took the land at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond the Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon.
9(The Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir.)
10We 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.
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.)
12This 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.
13The rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. All the region of Argob, all Bashan, is called the land of Rephaim.
14Jair 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.
15I gave Gilead to Machir.
16To the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave from Gilead even to the valley of the Arnon, the middle of the valley as a border, even to the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon;
17the Arabah also, the Jordan being the border thereof, from Chinnereth even to the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah eastward.
18I commanded you at that time, saying, "The LORD your God has given you this land to possess it. All your men of valor shall cross over armed before your brothers the children of Israel.
19But your wives, your little ones, and your livestock (I know that you have much livestock) shall remain in your cities which I have given you,
20until 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 return every man to his possession, which I have given you."
21I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, "Your eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings. So the LORD will do to all the kingdoms where you pass over.
22You shall not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, he it is who fights for you."
23I begged the LORD at that time, saying,
24"Lord GOD, you have begun to show your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth that can do according to your works and according to your mighty acts?
25Please let me go over and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that fine hill country and Lebanon."
26But the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and didn't listen to me. The LORD said to me, "Enough! Speak no more to me of this matter.
27Go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift up your eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and see it with your eyes; for you shall not go over this Jordan.
28But 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."
29So we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor.
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Summary
Moses continues his historical review with the defeat of Og, king of Bashan — a giant whose enormous iron bed became legendary. The entire region east of the Jordan, from the Arnon River in the south to Mount Hermon in the north, is conquered and divided among the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. Moses then recounts his earnest plea to God to allow him to enter Canaan and God's firm refusal — Moses will see the land from Mount Pisgah but will not cross the Jordan. Joshua is commissioned to lead the people forward.
Themes
- God as the true warrior — Israel's victories belong to him, not to military might
- The settlement of Transjordan (east of the Jordan) as the first territorial inheritance
- Moses' personal grief at being barred from Canaan — a consequence of earlier failure
- Leadership transition: Moses prepares Joshua to carry forward what he cannot finish
Key verses
- Deut 3:22 — “You shall not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, he it is who fights for you.”
- Deut 3:24 — “Lord GOD, you have begun to show your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth that can do according to your works and according to your mighty acts?”
- Deut 3:27 — “Go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift up your eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and see it with your eyes; for you shall not go over this Jordan.”
Context & background
Bashan was the fertile, volcanic plateau region in what is today southwestern Syria and the Golan Heights — a territory currently disputed between Syria and Israel. Og's kingdom stretched from the Jabbok River (Wadi Zarqa in Jordan) northward to Mount Hermon, the highest peak in the region, located on the modern Syria-Lebanon border. The "Sea of Arabah" (the Salt Sea) is the modern Dead Sea, the lowest point on Earth. Mount Pisgah is part of the Abarim range in modern Jordan, and Moses' view from its summit would have encompassed the whole promised land to the west — modern Israel and Palestine.
Cross-references
- Joshua 1:12-18 — Joshua takes up the command that Moses gives here
- Numbers 20:7-12 — The incident at Meribah that cost Moses the right to enter Canaan
- Numbers 21:33-35 — The first account of the defeat of Og
- Numbers 32 — The request of Reuben and Gad to settle east of the Jordan
- Psalm 135:10-12 — A psalm celebrating the defeat of Sihon and Og