Deuteronomy 3:1-11

Defeat of King Og of Bashan

3:1 Next we set out on ¹  the route to Bashan, ²  but King Og of Bashan and his whole army ³  came out to meet us in battle at Edrei. ⁴  3:2 The Lord, however, said to me, “Don’t be afraid of him because I have already given him, his whole army, ⁵  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. ⁶  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, ⁷  the dominion of Og in Bashan. 3:5 All of these cities were fortified by high walls, gates, and locking bars; ⁸  in addition there were a great many open villages. ⁹  3:6 We put all of these under divine judgment ¹⁰  just as we had done to King Sihon of Heshbon – every occupied city, ¹¹  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 ¹²  3:9 (the Sidonians ¹³  call Hermon Sirion ¹⁴  and the Amorites call it Senir), ¹⁵  3:10 all the cities of the plateau, all of Gilead and Bashan as far as Salecah ¹⁶  and Edrei, ¹⁷  cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 3:11 Only King Og of Bashan was left of the remaining Rephaites. (It is noteworthy ¹⁸  that his sarcophagus ¹⁹  was made of iron. ²⁰  Does it not, indeed, still remain in Rabbath ²¹  of the Ammonites? It is thirteen and a half feet ²²  long and six feet ²³  wide according to standard measure.) ²⁴ 

[3:1]  ¹ tn Heb “turned and went up.”

[3:1]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “people.”

[3:1]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “people.”

[3:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “was left to him.” The final phrase “to him” is redundant in English and has been left untranslated.

[3:4]  ⁷ sn Argob. This is a subdistrict of Bashan, perhaps north of the Yarmuk River. See Y. Aharoni, Land of the Bible, 314.

[3:5]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew term פְּרָזִי (pÿraziy) refers to rural areas, at the most “unwalled villages” (KJV, NASB “unwalled towns”).

[3:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “we put them under the ban” (נַחֲרֵם, nakharem). See note at 2:34.

[3:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “city of men.”

[3:8]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ sn Sidonians were Phoenician inhabitants of the city of Sidon (now in Lebanon), about 47 mi (75 km) north of Mount Carmel.

[3:9]  ¹⁴ sn Sirion. This name is attested in the Ugaritic texts as sryn. See UT 495.

[3:9]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ sn Edrei. See note on this term in 3:1.

[3:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Behold” (הִנֵּה, hinneh).

[3:11]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ tn Or “of iron-colored basalt.” See note on the word “sarcophagus” earlier in this verse.

[3:11]  ²¹ 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]  ²² 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]  ²³ tn Heb “four cubits.” This would be 6 ft (1.8 m) wide.

[3:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “by the cubit of man.” This probably refers to the “short” or “regular” cubit of approximately 18 in (45 cm).