Deuteronomy 2:31--3:16

2:31 The Lord said to me, “Look! I have already begun to give over Sihon and his land to you. Start right now to take his land as your possession.” 2:32 When Sihon and all his troops ¹  emerged to encounter us in battle at Jahaz, ²  2:33 the Lord our God delivered him over to us and we struck him down, along with his sons ³  and everyone else. ⁴  2:34 At that time we seized all his cities and put every one of them ⁵  under divine judgment, ⁶  including even the women and children; we left no survivors. 2:35 We kept only the livestock and plunder from the cities for ourselves. 2:36 From Aroer, ⁷  which is at the edge of Wadi Arnon (it is the city in the wadi), ⁸  all the way to Gilead there was not a town able to resist us – the Lord our God gave them all to us. 2:37 However, you did not approach the land of the Ammonites, the Wadi Jabbok, ⁹  the cities of the hill country, or any place else forbidden by the Lord our God.

Defeat of King Og of Bashan

3:1 Next we set out on ¹⁰  the route to Bashan, ¹¹  but King Og of Bashan and his whole army ¹²  came out to meet us in battle at Edrei. ¹³  3:2 The Lord, however, said to me, “Don’t be afraid of him because I have already given him, his whole army, ¹⁴  and his land to you. You will do to him exactly what you did to King Sihon of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon.” 3:3 So the Lord our God did indeed give over to us King Og of Bashan and his whole army and we struck them down until not a single survivor was left. ¹⁵  3:4 We captured all his cities at that time – there was not a town we did not take from them – sixty cities, all the region of Argob, ¹⁶  the dominion of Og in Bashan. 3:5 All of these cities were fortified by high walls, gates, and locking bars; ¹⁷  in addition there were a great many open villages. ¹⁸  3:6 We put all of these under divine judgment ¹⁹  just as we had done to King Sihon of Heshbon – every occupied city, ²⁰  including women and children. 3:7 But all the livestock and plunder from the cities we kept for ourselves. 3:8 So at that time we took the land of the two Amorite kings in the Transjordan from Wadi Arnon to Mount Hermon ²¹  3:9 (the Sidonians ²²  call Hermon Sirion ²³  and the Amorites call it Senir), ²⁴  3:10 all the cities of the plateau, all of Gilead and Bashan as far as Salecah ²⁵  and Edrei, ²⁶  cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 3:11 Only King Og of Bashan was left of the remaining Rephaites. (It is noteworthy ²⁷  that his sarcophagus ²⁸  was made of iron. ²⁹  Does it not, indeed, still remain in Rabbath ³⁰  of the Ammonites? It is thirteen and a half feet ³¹  long and six feet ³²  wide according to standard measure.) ³³ 

Distribution of the Transjordanian Allotments

3:12 This is the land we brought under our control at that time: The territory extending from Aroer ³⁴  by the Wadi Arnon and half the Gilead hill country with its cities I gave to the Reubenites and Gadites. ³⁵  3:13 The rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to half the tribe of Manasseh. ³⁶  (All the region of Argob, ³⁷  that is, all Bashan, is called the land of Rephaim. 3:14 Jair, son of Manasseh, took all the Argob region as far as the border with the Geshurites ³⁸  and Maacathites ³⁹  (namely Bashan) and called it by his name, Havvoth-Jair, ⁴⁰  which it retains to this very day.) 3:15 I gave Gilead to Machir. ⁴¹  3:16 To the Reubenites and Gadites I allocated the territory extending from Gilead as far as Wadi Arnon (the exact middle of the wadi was a boundary) all the way to the Wadi Jabbok, the Ammonite border.

Deuteronomy 8:18

8:18 You must remember the Lord your God, for he is the one who gives ability to get wealth; if you do this he will confirm his covenant that he made by oath to your ancestors, ⁴²  even as he has to this day.

[2:32]  ¹ tn Heb “people.”

[2:32]  ² sn Jahaz. This is probably Khirbet el-Medeiyineh. See J. Dearman, “The Levitical Cities of Reuben and Moabite Toponymy,” BASOR 276 (1984): 55-57.

[2:33]  ³ tc The translation follows the Qere or marginal reading; the Kethib (consonantal text) has the singular, “his son.”

[2:33]  ⁴ tn Heb “all his people.”

[2:34]  ⁵ tn Heb “every city of men.” This apparently identifies the cities as inhabited.

[2:34]  ⁶ tn Heb “under the ban” (נַחֲרֵם, nakharem). The verb employed is חָרַם (kharam, usually in the Hiphil) and the associated noun is חֵרֶם (kherem). See J. Naudé, NIDOTTE, 2:276-77, and, for a more thorough discussion, Susan Niditch, War in the Hebrew Bible, 28-77.

[2:36]  ⁷ sn Aroer. Now known as àAraáir on the northern edge of the Arnon river, Aroer marked the southern limit of Moab and, later, of the allotment of the tribe of Reuben (Josh 13:9, 16).

[2:36]  ⁸ tn Heb “the city in the wadi.” This enigmatic reference may refer to Ar or, more likely, to Aroer itself. Epexegetically the text might read, “From Aroer…, that is, the city in the wadi.” See D. L. Christensen, Deuteronomy 1–11 (WBC), 49.

[2:37]  ⁹ sn Wadi Jabbok. Now known as the Zerqa River, this is a major tributary of the Jordan that normally served as a boundary between Ammon and Gad (Deut 3:16).

[3:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “turned and went up.”

[3:1]  ¹¹ sn Bashan. This plateau country, famous for its oaks (Isa 2:13) and cattle (Deut 32:14; Amos 4:1), was north of Gilead along the Yarmuk River.

[3:1]  ¹² tn Heb “people.”

[3:1]  ¹³ sn Edrei is probably modern Deràa, 60 mi (95 km) south of Damascus (see Num 21:33; Josh 12:4; 13:12, 31; also mentioned in Deut 1:4).

[3:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “people.”

[3:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “was left to him.” The final phrase “to him” is redundant in English and has been left untranslated.

[3:4]  ¹⁶ sn Argob. This is a subdistrict of Bashan, perhaps north of the Yarmuk River. See Y. Aharoni, Land of the Bible, 314.

[3:5]  ¹⁷ 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.

[3:5]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew term פְּרָזִי (pÿraziy) refers to rural areas, at the most “unwalled villages” (KJV, NASB “unwalled towns”).

[3:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “we put them under the ban” (נַחֲרֵם, nakharem). See note at 2:34.

[3:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “city of men.”

[3:8]  ²¹ sn Mount Hermon. This is the famous peak at the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range known today as Jebel es-Sheik.

[3:9]  ²² sn Sidonians were Phoenician inhabitants of the city of Sidon (now in Lebanon), about 47 mi (75 km) north of Mount Carmel.

[3:9]  ²³ sn Sirion. This name is attested in the Ugaritic texts as sryn. See UT 495.

[3:9]  ²⁴ 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).

[3:10]  ²⁵ sn Salecah. Today this is known as Salkhad, in Jordan, about 31 mi (50 km) east of the Jordan River in the Hauran Desert.

[3:10]  ²⁶ sn Edrei. See note on this term in 3:1.

[3:11]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Behold” (הִנֵּה, hinneh).

[3:11]  ²⁸ 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.”

[3:11]  ²⁹ tn Or “of iron-colored basalt.” See note on the word “sarcophagus” earlier in this verse.

[3:11]  ³⁰ 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.

[3:11]  ³¹ 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.

[3:11]  ³² tn Heb “four cubits.” This would be 6 ft (1.8 m) wide.

[3:11]  ³³ tn Heb “by the cubit of man.” This probably refers to the “short” or “regular” cubit of approximately 18 in (45 cm).

[3:12]  ³⁴ tn The words “the territory extending” are not in the Hebrew text; they are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[3:12]  ³⁵ sn Reubenites and Gadites. By the time of Moses’ address the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh had already been granted permission to settle in the Transjordan, provided they helped the other tribes subdue the occupants of Canaan (cf. Num 32:28-42).

[3:13]  ³⁶ sn Half the tribe of Manasseh. The tribe of Manasseh split into clans, with half opting to settle in Bashan and the other half in Canaan (cf. Num 32:39-42; Josh 17:1-13).

[3:13]  ³⁷ sn Argob. See note on this term in v. 4.

[3:14]  ³⁸ sn Geshurites. Geshur was a city and its surrounding area somewhere northeast of Bashan (cf. Josh 12:5 ; 13:11, 13). One of David’s wives was Maacah, the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur and mother of Absalom (cf. 2 Sam 13:37; 15:8; 1 Chr 3:2).

[3:14]  ³⁹ sn Maacathites. These were the people of a territory southwest of Mount Hermon on the Jordan River. The name probably has nothing to do with David’s wife from Geshur (see note on “Geshurites” earlier in this verse).

[3:14]  ⁴⁰ sn Havvoth-Jair. The Hebrew name means “villages of Jair,” the latter being named after a son (i.e., descendant) of Manasseh who took the area by conquest.

[3:15]  ⁴¹ sn Machir was the name of another descendant of Manasseh (cf. Num 32:41; 1 Chr 7:14-19). Eastern Manasseh was thus divided between the Jairites and the Machirites.

[8:18]  ⁴² tc Smr and Lucian add “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” the standard way of rendering this almost stereotypical formula (cf. Deut 1:8; 6:10; 9:5, 27; 29:13; 30:20; 34:4). The MT’s harder reading presumptively argues for its originality, however.