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 

be sure ¹  you do not feel self-important and forget the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, the place of slavery,

and serves in the name of the Lord his God like his fellow Levites who stand there before the Lord.

The elders of his own city must send for him and remove him from there to deliver him over to the blood avenger ¹  to die.

If there is someone among you who is impure because of some nocturnal emission, ¹  he must leave the camp; he may not reenter it immediately.

Thus all Israel will hear and be afraid; no longer will they continue to do evil like this among you. ¹ 

In the day he divides his inheritance ¹  he must not appoint as firstborn the son of the favorite wife in place of the other ²  wife’s son who is actually the firstborn.

The man who has raped her must pay her father fifty shekels of silver and she must become his wife because he has violated her; he may never divorce her as long as he lives.

But now, why should we die, because this intense fire will consume us! If we keep hearing the voice of the Lord our God we will die!

When it is reported to you and you hear about it, you must investigate carefully. If it is indeed true that such a disgraceful thing ¹  is being done in Israel,

If a man is found kidnapping a person from among his fellow Israelites, ¹  and regards him as mere property ²  and sells him, that kidnapper ³  must die. In this way you will purge ⁴  evil from among you.

Understand, therefore, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is about to give you this good land as a possession, for you are a stubborn ¹  people!

So we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and he ¹  heard us and saw our humiliation, toil, and oppression.

Be keenly aware that just as a parent disciplines his child, ¹  the Lord your God disciplines you.

When you approach a city to wage war against it, offer it terms of peace.

He will say, “Where are their gods, the rock in whom they sought security,

and he ¹  delivers them over to you and you attack them, you must utterly annihilate ²  them. Make no treaty ³  with them and show them no mercy!

and the Lord ¹  commissioned Joshua son of Nun, “Be strong and courageous, for you will take the Israelites to the land I have promised them, and I will be with you.” ² 

If the place he ¹  chooses to locate his name is too far for you, you may slaughter any of your herd and flock he ²  has given you just as I have stipulated; you may eat them in your villages ³  just as you wish.

If a matter is too difficult for you to judge – bloodshed, ¹  legal claim, ²  or assault ³  – matters of controversy in your villages ⁴  – you must leave there and go up to the place the Lord your God chooses. ⁵