7:16 You must destroy 27 all the people whom the Lord your God is about to deliver over to you; you must not pity them or worship 28 their gods, for that will be a snare to you.
“Come to Heshbon, let it be built.
Let the city of Sihon be established! 39
21:28 For fire went out from Heshbon,
a flame from the city of Sihon.
It has consumed Ar of Moab
and the lords 40 of the high places of Arnon.
21:29 Woe to you, Moab.
You are ruined, O people of Chemosh! 41
He has made his sons fugitives,
and his daughters the prisoners of King Sihon of the Amorites.
21:30 We have overpowered them; 42
Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon.
We have shattered them as far as Nophah,
which 43 reaches to Medeba.”
21:31 So the Israelites 44 lived in the land of the Amorites. 21:32 Moses sent spies to reconnoiter 45 Jaazer, and they captured its villages 46 and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.
21:33 Then they turned and went up by the road to Bashan. And King Og of Bashan and all his forces 47 marched out against them to do battle at Edrei. 21:34 And the Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand. You will do to him what you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. 21:35 So they defeated Og, 48 his sons, and all his people, until there were no survivors, 49 and they possessed his land.
1 tc The translation follows the Qere or marginal reading; the Kethib (consonantal text) has the singular, “his son.”
2 tn Heb “all his people.”
3 tn Heb “was left to him.” The final phrase “to him” is redundant in English and has been left untranslated.
4 sn Argob. This is a subdistrict of Bashan, perhaps north of the Yarmuk River. See Y. Aharoni, Land of the Bible, 314.
5 tn Or “high walls and barred gates” (NLT); Heb “high walls, gates, and bars.” Since “bars” could be understood to mean “saloons,” the qualifying adjective “locking” has been supplied in the translation.
6 tn The Hebrew term פְּרָזִי (pÿraziy) refers to rural areas, at the most “unwalled villages” (KJV, NASB “unwalled towns”).
7 tn Heb “we put them under the ban” (נַחֲרֵם, nakharem). See note at 2:34.
8 tn Heb “city of men.”
9 sn Mount Hermon. This is the famous peak at the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range known today as Jebel es-Sheik.
10 sn Sidonians were Phoenician inhabitants of the city of Sidon (now in Lebanon), about 47 mi (75 km) north of Mount Carmel.
11 sn Sirion. This name is attested in the Ugaritic texts as sryn. See UT 495.
12 sn Senir. Probably this was actually one of the peaks of Hermon and not the main mountain (Song of Songs 4:8; 1 Chr 5:23). It is mentioned in a royal inscription of Shalmaneser III of Assyria (saniru; see ANET 280).
13 sn Salecah. Today this is known as Salkhad, in Jordan, about 31 mi (50 km) east of the Jordan River in the Hauran Desert.
14 sn Edrei. See note on this term in 3:1.
15 tn Heb “Behold” (הִנֵּה, hinneh).
16 tn The Hebrew term עֶרֶשׂ (’eres), traditionally translated “bed” (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT) is likely a basaltic (volcanic) stone sarcophagus of suitable size to contain the coffin of the giant Rephaite king. Its iron-like color and texture caused it to be described as an iron container. See A. Millard, “King Og’s Iron Bed: Fact or Fancy?” BR 6 (1990): 16-21, 44; cf. also NEB “his sarcophagus of basalt”; TEV, CEV “his coffin.”
17 tn Or “of iron-colored basalt.” See note on the word “sarcophagus” earlier in this verse.
18 sn Rabbath. This place name (usually occurring as Rabbah; 2 Sam 11:11; 12:27; Jer 49:3) refers to the ancient capital of the Ammonite kingdom, now the modern city of Amman, Jordan. The word means “great [one],” probably because of its political importance. The fact that the sarcophagus “still remain[ed]” there suggests this part of the verse is post-Mosaic, having been added as a matter of explanation for the existence of the artifact and also to verify the claim as to its size.
19 tn Heb “nine cubits.” Assuming a length of 18 in (45 cm) for the standard cubit, this would be 13.5 ft (4.1 m) long.
20 tn Heb “four cubits.” This would be 6 ft (1.8 m) wide.
21 tn Heb “by the cubit of man.” This probably refers to the “short” or “regular” cubit of approximately 18 in (45 cm).
22 tn Heb “the
23 tn Heb “which you are crossing over there.”
24 tn Heb “the
25 tn In the Hebrew text the infinitive absolute before the finite verb emphasizes the statement. The imperfect has an obligatory nuance here. Cf. ASV “shalt (must NRSV) utterly destroy them”; CEV “must destroy them without mercy.”
26 tn Heb “covenant” (so NASB, NRSV); TEV “alliance.”
27 tn Heb “devour” (so NRSV); KJV, NAB, NASB “consume.” The verbal form (a perfect with vav consecutive) is understood here as having an imperatival or obligatory nuance (cf. the instructions and commands that follow). Another option is to take the statement as a continuation of the preceding conditional promises and translate “and you will destroy.”
28 tn Or “serve” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV).
29 tn Heb “and I will send.”
30 tn Heb “the beast of the field.”
31 tn The repetition expresses an exceptional or super-fine quality (see GKC 396 §123.e).
32 tn The form is a perfect tense with vav consecutive.
33 tn In the Hebrew Bible “the River” usually refers to the Euphrates (cf. NASB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT). There is some thought that it refers to a river Nahr el Kebir between Lebanon and Syria. See further W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:447; and G. W. Buchanan, The Consequences of the Covenant (NovTSup), 91-100.
34 tn The Hebrew text has “Israel,” but the verb is plural.
35 tn Heb “with the edge of the sword.”
36 tn Heb “its daughters.”
37 sn There is a justice, always, in the divine plan for the conquest of the land. Modern students of the Bible often think that the conquest passages are crude and unjust. But an understanding of the ancient Near East is critical here. This Sihon was not a part of the original population of the land. He himself invaded the territory and destroyed the population of Moab that was indigenous there and established his own kingdom. The ancient history is filled with such events; it is the way of life they chose – conquer or be conquered. For Israel to defeat them was in part a turning of their own devices back on their heads – “those that live by the sword will die by the sword.” Sihon knew this, and he did not wait, but took the war to Israel. Israel wanted to pass through, not fight. But now they would either fight or be pushed into the gorge. So God used Israel to defeat Sihon, who had no claim to the land, as part of divine judgment.
38 sn Proverbs of antiquity could include pithy sayings or longer songs, riddles, or poems composed to catch the significance or the irony of an event. This is a brief poem to remember the event, like an Egyptian victory song. It may have originated as an Amorite war taunt song; it was sung to commemorate this victory. It was cited later by Jeremiah (48:45-46). The composer invites his victorious people to rebuild the conquered city as a new capital for Sihon. He then turns to address the other cities which his God(s) has/have given to him. See P. D. Hanson, “The Song of Heshbon and David’s Nir,” HTR 61 (1968): 301.
39 tn Meaning, “rebuilt and restored.”
40 tc Some scholars emend to בָּלְעָה (bal’ah), reading “and devoured,” instead of בַּעֲלֵי (ba’aley, “its lords”); cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV. This emendation is closer to the Greek and makes a better parallelism, but the MT makes good sense as it stands.
41 sn The note of holy war emerges here as the victory is a victory over the local gods as well as over the people.
42 tc The first verb is difficult. MT has “we shot at them.” The Greek has “their posterity perished” (see GKC 218 §76.f).
43 tc The relative pronoun “which” (אֲשֶׁר, ’asher) posed a problem for the ancient scribes here, as indicated by the so-called extraordinary point (punta extraordinaria) over the letter ר (resh) of אֲשֶׁר. Smr and the LXX have “fire” (אֵשׁ, ’esh) here (cf. NAB, NJB, RSV, NRSV). Some modern scholars emend the word to שֹׁאָה (sho’ah, “devastation”).
44 tn Heb “Israel.”
45 tn Heb “Moses sent to spy out.”
46 tn Heb “daughters.”
47 tn Heb “people.”
48 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Og) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
49 tn Heb “no remnant.”