Preface:

In Deut. 3, Moses is going to concentrate on two things: the defeat of Og and the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh. They will want the land east of the Jordan and Moses will give it to them, with the caveat that they must help their brothers defeat the indigenous people west of the Jordan. This is history which has already been covered in the book of Numbers; but Moses is using it to teach the Israelites. The message which Moses drives home is, we can depend upon God in the future because of what He has done in the past.

The Moses will reveal his heart-felt request of God to go with them over the Jordan and how God turned him down, directing him to prepare Joshua to do this.

This should be the most extensive examination of Deuteronomy 3 available, where you will be able to examine in depth every word of the original text.

Quotations:

 

Deuteronomy 3:24b (graphic); from blogspot; accessed March 27, 2015.

 

Joseph Parker: Is it not remarkable that good causes and good men should meet with constant opposition? We are now perusing the history of a journey which was undertaken by divine direction, and again and again-almost on every page-we come upon the fact that the journey was from end to end bitterly opposed.

 

Peter Pett: It is difficult for us in reading this to gain the atmosphere of the moment. As they stood to hear his words in the plain of Moab no one was more aware than them of the truth of what he was saying. For they were present there, having themselves just been involved in it. They had just returned from fighting a powerful enemy. Great dangers had just been faced, successful battles had been fought with seemingly powerful armies, they had approached great cities with trepidation, but through Yahweh's help they had brought them crashing down. The dead had been counted and were being mourned as heroes, for it was through their sacrifice in the Holy War they had been victorious. The land of Gilead and Bashan was theirs, and they had returned back to camp weary and triumphant. They had tasted the good taste of victory.

 

David Guzik: Remembering God's past faithfulness is key to present and future victory.

 

Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary: Man proposes but God disposes. How many plans are rendered abortive by death...Og thought to destroy Israel. How different the result! 

 

Joshua 24:12 And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites; it was not by your sword or by your bow.

This should be the most extensive examination of Deut. 3 available, where you will be able to examine in depth every word of the original text.

Outline of Chapter 3:

Introduction

         vv.     1–7           Moses Recounts the Defeat of Og, King of Bashan

         vv.     8–11         The Territory Taken by Israel East of the Jordan River

         vv.    12–17         Division of the Land East of the Jordan

         vv.    18–20         Specific Commands for Reuben, Gad and the Half-Tribe of Manasseh

         vv.    21–22         Joshua is Encouraged

         vv.    23–29         Moses Prays, But He will not Cross Over the Jordan River

Addendum

Charts, Graphics and Short Doctrines:

         Quotations           Deuteronomy 3:24b (graphic)

         Introduction         Deuteronomy 3 (graphic)

         Introduction         The Prequel of Deuteronomy 3

         Introduction         The Principals of Deuteronomy 3

         Introduction         The Conquest of Transjordan (a map)

         Introduction         The Places of Deuteronomy 3

         Introduction         The location of the tribes of Israel (a map)

         Introduction         Matthew Henry’s Outline of Deuteronomy 3

         Introduction         Vlad’s Outline of Deuteronomy 3

         Introduction         A Synopsis of Deuteronomy 3

         Introduction         Gill’s Synopsis of Deuteronomy 3

         v.       1              Peter Pett’s Chiastic Organization of Deuteronomy 3:1–7

         v.       1              The Route of Moses and the People (a map)

         v.       1              Fausset on Og

         v.       1              Smith on Bashan

         v.       3              The total destruction of these peoples and importance of salvation

         v.       3              God Prepares Israel for Battle

         v.       3              Application: the United States Preserves Peace in the World

         v.       4              Describing the Region of Argon

         v.       6              The Destruction of the Wicked, from the Pulpit Commentary

         v.       6              Complete Destruction in Scripture

         v.       8              Peter Pett’s Chiastic Organization of Deuteronomy 3:8–17

         v.       8              Map of Israel

         v.       9              Keil and Delitzsch on Mount Hermon

         v.      10              The Transjordan Area Conquered by the Sons of Israel (Pulpit Commentary)

         v.      11              Fausset on Rabbah

         v.      11              Clarke on the Weirdness of the Rabbins

         v.      13              The Distribution of Land and What It Teaches (Pulpit Commentary)

         v.      16              The River Arnon

         v.      16              The Jabbok River

         v.      17              Chinnereth: the City and the Sea

         v.      17              Pisgah, by Easton and Fausset

         v.      17              A Map of the Land East of the Jordan

         v.      18              Peter Pett’s Chiastic Organization of Deuteronomy 3:18–22

         v.      22              Deuteronomy 3:22 (graphic)

         v.      23              Peter Pett’s Chiastic Organization of Deuteronomy 3:23–29

         v.      24              Deuteronomy 3:24 (graphic)

         v.      24              The Greatness of God—Scriptural References

         v.      24              The Great Things God has Done

         v.      24              Deuteronomy 3:24 (graphic #2)

         v.      24              The Promise of New Conquests (The Pulpit Commentary)

         v.      25              Peter Pett on the Land of Promise

         v.      25              Why Did Moses Receive the Brunt of God’s Anger at the Waters of Meribah?

         v.      25              Ron Daniel on Moses’ 4 Areas of Sin

         v.      25              Why Won’t Moses Enter the Land with the Children of Israel?

         v.      25              What can we as individual believers take from Moses going this far and no further?

         v.      25              Deuteronomy 3:23, 25 (graphic)

         v.      27              Deuteronomy 3:24–27 (graphic)

         v.      27              Why God did not let Moses Enter into the Land of Promise

         v.      28              Why Joshua leads the people instead of Moses

         v.      28              Clarke on the Typology of Moses and Joshua

         v.      28              Moses as a Type of Christ in His Death

         v.      28              The Certainty that Israel Would Possess Canaan (Peter Pett)

         v.      29              Map of Beth-Baal-Peor

         Addendum          Why Deuteronomy 3 is in the Word of God

         Addendum          What We Learn from Deuteronomy 3

         Addendum          Josephus’ History of this Time Period

         Addendum          Edersheim Summarizes Deuteronomy 3

         Addendum          A Complete Translation of Deuteronomy 3

         Addendum          Word Cloud from a Reasonably Literal Paraphrase of Deuteronomy 3

         Addendum          Word Cloud from Exegesis of Deuteronomy 3

——————————

An Introduction to Deuteronomy 3

I ntroduction: Deut. 3 continues the message of Moses to his people. He recounts their victory over Og, king of Bashan with more detail than we actually had previously. He will also review the land grant to Reuben and Gad. However, the most heart-wrenching portion of this chapter was his prayer to God when Moses was been told that he will not enter into the land. We only saw a portion of this prayer; we saw Moses requesting that God choose a new commander to lead Israel into the land. However, Moses also pleaded with God to allow him to lead Israel into the land. We will see that in this chapter.

There does not appear to be any reason to separate Deut. 2 from Deut. 3. In Deut. 2, we begin in Kedesh, and follow the Israelites are they begin to move again, with the intention of entering into the Land of Promise. So, in Moses’ teaching, we start at Kedesh (beginning with chapter 2) with the new generation and we travel around the Dead Sea until we come to the point where Moses will look over to see the Land of Promise, but he will not travel across the Jordan River with them. He continues his teaching at Deut. 4, but not within this narrative about their movement around the Dead Sea.

Deut. 2 and 3 should have been combined into one very long chapter. About the only difference is, the Israelites go east and then north in Deut. 2 and they are about to go west in Deut. 3.

The chapters divisions throughout Scripture were imposed long after the Scripture was written. Sometimes it is done right; other times, it is not. Deut. 2 and 3 should have been one chapter.

Deuteronomy 3 (graphic); from hope, helping, healing; accessed March 27, 2015.

In Deut. 3, Moses continues to address the people of Israel. He reminds them of their victory over Og, a recalcitrant foe who presided over a great deal of land east of the Jordan River. The Israelites had no choice but to wage war against him, and they defeated him as soundly as they had defeated Sihon (and Og was a more formidable enemy). Moses is arguing that God has given them this victory, and that they ought to recognize that fact and continue with great confidence when crossing over into Canaan.

After defeating both Og and Sihon, there was a great deal of land that was now up for grabs. Moses had given this land to the tribes of Gad and Reuben, and also to the half tribe of Manasseh. The borders are laid out pretty clearly in this chapter as well as elsewhere. Moses tells them that they may keep this area for themselves to live and ranch on; but that the adult males must continue with their brothers to take the land west of the Jordan.

Moses also tells them that Joshua would preside over them, west of the Jordan, and that God would not allow him to cross over the Jordan. He says it is because of you; which is true in part. He does not go into any detail as to the whole story.

The phrase at that time occurs many times in this chapter (vv. 4, 8, 12, 18, 21, 23). I don’t quite yet know what that means, but this occurs an awful lot to be coincidental (this phrase occurs a total of 3 times in chapters 1 and 2 and 6 more times in the rest of the book of Deuteronomy). Vv. 8, 12, 18 and 21 are the first sentences in a new section (I compiled this list long after I subdivided this chapter). Also, v. 23 could legitimately begin a new section (I have since gone back, and made it into a separate section). Perhaps that is how Moses is using this phrase—to introduce a new section. No doubt that, by repeating this verse, Moses is telling the hearer, “You know that you can depend upon God being faithful in the future because of what He has done for you in the past.”

Arno Gaebelein: In obedience to the word of the Lord, they went to battle against Og, the king of Bashan. Obedience to the Lord and its results and blessing are the marks of the second and third chapters of Deuteronomy, while the first chapter shows disobedience and its fruit.

Quite obviously, there are a lot of people to keep track of in this short chapter.

The Conquest of Transjordan (a map); from JesusWalk.com; accessed March 17, 2015

The Places of Deuteronomy 31 (continued)
Places	Description
The Valley of Arnon to Mount Hermon	The Arnon River is due east of the Dead Sea, almost in the center of the Dead Sea. Mount Hermon is north-northeast of the Sea of Galilee, and off this map. The Arnon River separates Reuben from Moab on the map below (and previously, it separated the Amorites from Moab). Deut. 3:8–9, 12
The location of the tribes of Israel (a map); from wordpress.com; accessed March 17, 2015.
Gilead, the region of	Gilead is found on the map above. East Manasseh occupies the territory of Bashan and Gilead. However, it is east of the Jordan River and south of Bashan. Deut. 3:10, 13
Rabbah of the Ammonites	This is the capitol city of the Amonites. Ammon is east of the tribe of Gad (see the map above); and Rabbah is north of Heshbon (see the first map). Deut. 3:11.
Aroer	Deut. 3:12 is rather confusing. "When we took possession of this land at that time, I gave to the Reubenites and the Gadites the territory beginning at Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead with its cities.” (ESV) One map I have places Aroer near Rabbah. However, there appears to be (another?) Aroer which is on the Arnon River. The confusion is either that there are two Aroer’s, or the first map that I reference is inaccurate.
Land of the Rephaim (giants)	This is a portion of Bashan. Deut. 3:13.
Geshur	A small kingdom, which might even be in the middle of East Manasseh. Deut. 3:14.
Maacah	Maacah is a small kingdom, north of Geshur, and apparently a part of East Manasseh. Deut. 3:14.
Havoth-Jair	An area just south of the Yarmuk River.
The River Jabbok (or the Valley of Jabbok)	The Jabbok River feeds into the Jordan River from the east and can be found in both maps above. Deut. 3:16.
Arabah	Although the Arabah is the valley south of the Dead Sea; it is also a name for the Jordan Valley (which might be known as Northern Arabah and this is how it is used here). Deut. 3:17.
The Salt Sea	Equivalent to the Dead Sea. Deut. 3:17.
Mount Pisgah	Mount Pisgah is found in the mountain range of Mount Nebo. It can be found on this map, not far from Heshbon. Given all of the rest of the information in this chapter, this would be a mountain opposite Jericho, across the Jordan River. Deut. 3:17, 27.
Jordan River	The is the river which divides Israel into east and west Israel. It runs between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. It is easily found on the two maps above. Deut. 3:17, 20, 25, 27.
Beyond the Jordan.	In this context, Moses is talking about west of the Jordan, the land of Canaan, the land which he has never set foot in. Deut. 3:25.
The Hill Country	The would be the Hill Country which goes up and down the Dead Sea on the west side. Sometimes the mountains north of that are included in this designation. Deut. 3:25.
Lebanon	Lebanon is north of Israel. Deut. 3:25.
Beth-Peor	Beth-Peor, which appears to be the same as Beth-Baal-Peor, is very close to Heshbon and not far from Nebo. Deut. 3:29.

Arno Gaebelein gives1. The conquest of Og (Deuteronomy 3:1-11)

         a fairly simple outline:            2. The land possessed (Deuteronomy 3:12-20)

3. Joshua in the place of Moses (Deuteronomy 3:21-29)

Although I saw chiasmos examples, none really struck me as impressive (until I came to Pett’s, and they will be found throughout the text).

Thomas Coke: Moses relates the victory of Israel over Og king of Bashan, and the division of his kingdom between the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh; and how he himself wished to enter into the land of Canaan. Before Christ 1451.

There are two questions which ought to occur to the person who reads this chapter: (1) Why did God keep Moses from entering into the Land of Promise? (2) How did the Jews conquer 60 cities? Both will be answered.

It is clear that Moses believes that the children of Israel will learn from a brief discussion of their time in the desert—even about those things which have only recently occurred. All of this chapter will deal with recent occurrences (things which happened just this past year).

Just like the previous chapters, this is Moses speaking to the children of Israel. However, instead of beginning each new paragraph with quotation marks, I will simply begin and end the chapter with quotation marks.

After writing most of this, I added in a generous helping of Peter Pett, who writes some outstanding commentary.

——————————

Moses Recounts the Defeat of Og, King of Bashan

Num. 21:33–35

The point that Moses is making is, the Jews will cross over the Jordan in order to take the land; and they will attack many various peoples. Their defeat of Og and Sihon should give them the confidence to trust God to conquer the territory of Canaan. Moses is teaching this for the benefit of the children of Israel and for Joshua, who would take over his position.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:                       Note: I compare the Hebrew text to English translations of the Latin, Syriac and Greek texts, using the Douay-Rheims translation ; George Lamsa’s translation, and Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton’s translation as revised and edited by Paul W. Esposito, respectively. I often update these texts with non-substantive changes (e.g., you for thou, etc.). I often use the text of the Complete Apostles’ Bible instead of Brenton’s translation, because it updates the English text.

The Septuagint was the earliest known translation of a book (circa 200 b.c.). Since this translation was made before the textual criticism had been developed into a science and because different books appear to be translated by different men, the Greek translation can sometimes be very uneven.

When there are serious disparities between my translation and Brenton’s (or the text of the Complete Apostles’ Bible), I look at the Greek text of the Septuagint (the LXX) to see if a substantive difference actually exists (and I reflect these changes in the English rendering of the Greek text). I use the Greek LXX with Strong’s numbers and morphology available for e-sword. The only problem with this resource (which is a problem for similar resources) is, there is no way to further explore Greek verbs which are not found in the New Testament. Although I usually quote the Complete Apostles’ Bible here, I have begun to make changes in the translation when their translation conflicts with the Greek and note what those changes are.

The Masoretic text is the Hebrew text with all of the vowels (vowel points) inserted (the original Hebrew text lacked vowels). We take the Masoretic text to be the text closest to the original. However, differences between the Masoretic text and the Greek, Latin and Syriac are worth noting and, once in a great while, represent a more accurate text possessed by those other ancient translators.

In general, the Latin text is an outstanding translation from the Hebrew text into Latin and very trustworthy (I say this as a non-Catholic). Unfortunately, I do not read Latin—apart from some very obvious words—so I am dependent upon the English translation of the Latin (principally, the Douay-Rheims translation).

Underlined words indicate differences in the text.

Bracketed portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls are words, letters and phrases lost in the scroll due to various types of damage. Underlined words or phrases are those in the Dead Sea Scrolls but not in the Masoretic text.

I will only list the translation from the Dead Sea Scrolls if it exists and if it is different from the Masoretic text.

These Bibles often fall into more than one category; I placed them where I believed them to have the best fit.

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And so we turn and so we go up a way of the Bashan. And so comes out Og king of the Bashan to meet us—he and all his people to the battle [at] Edrei.

Targum (trans. By Cook)        And turning, we went up by the way of Mathnan: and Og the king of Mathnan came out to meet us, he and all his people, to give battle in Edrehath.

Latin Vulgate                          Then we turned and went by the way of Basan: and Og the king of Basan came out to meet us with his people to fight in Edrai.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    THEN we turned and went up the way to Mathnin; and Og the king of Mathnin came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Erdei.

Septuagint (Greek)                And we turned and went by the way leading to Bashan. And Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.

Significant differences:           Mathnin appears to be the Syriac version of Bashan? Otherwise, no significant differences.

Limited Vocabulary Bibles:

Bible in Basic English             Then turning we took the road to Bashan: and Og, king of Bashan, came out against us with all his people, and made an attack on us at Edrei.

Easy English                          The Israelites beat Og, king of Bashan.

Then we turned and went up, along the road towards Bashan. Og, king of Bashan, marched out to fight against us. He brought his whole army with him to Edrei.

Easy-to-Read Version            “We turned and went on the road to Bashan. Og, the king of Bashan, and all his men came out to fight against us at Edrei.

Good News Bible (TEV)         "Next, we moved north toward the region of Bashan, and King Og came out with all his men to fight us near the town of Edrei.

Names of God Bible               Moses Reminds Israel of How They Defeated King Og of Bashan

Next we turned and followed the road that goes to Bashan. King Og of Bashan and all his troops came to fight us at Edrei.

NIRV                                      Israel Wins the Battle Over Og

Next, we turned and went up along the road toward Bashan. Og marched out with his whole army. They fought against us at Edrei. Og was the king of Bashan.

New Simplified Bible              »Next we headed for the land of Bashan. King Og of Bashan and all his army came to fight us at Edrei..

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           Next we turned and went up along the road to Bashan. Og, Bashan's king, came out with all his forces to meet us in battle at Edrei.

Contemporary English V.       When we turned onto the road that leads to Bashan, King Og of Bashan led out his whole army to fight us at Edrei.

The Living Bible                     "Next we turned toward King Og's land of Bashan. He immediately mobilized his army and attacked us at Edrei. But the Lord told me not to be afraid of him. `All his people and his land are yours,' the Lord told me. `You will do to him as you did to King Sihon of the Amorites at Heshbon.' V. 2 is included for context.

New Berkeley Version           We next turned and moved on up the road to Bashan, where Og, Bashan’s king came out against us, he and all his people, to fight us at Edrie.

New Century Version             The Battle at Bashan

When we turned and went up the road toward Bashan, Og king of Bashan and all his army came out to fight us at Edrei.

New Living Translation           Victory over Og of Bashan

"Next we turned and headed for the land of Bashan, where King Og and his entire army attacked us at Edrei.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          'Then we turned and traveled toward BaShan. And Og the king of BaShan came out to fight us with all his people at Edraim.

International Standard V        Israel Defeats the King of Bashan

"We set out and went up along the road to Bashan. Then King Og of Bashan came out to meet us-he and his whole army-for a battle at Edrei.

New Advent (Knox) Bible       Then we marched on by the road that leads to Basan, and Og, that was king of Basan, came out to meet us with all his forces, and offered battle at Edrai.

Today’s NIV                          Defeat of Og King of Bashan

Next we turned and went up along the road toward Bashan, and Og king of Bashan with his whole army marched out to meet us in battle at Edrei.

Translation for Translators                        Moses reminded them of the defeat of King Og

"Then we turned north and went toward the Bashan region. Og, the king of that area, and all his soldiers marched south to fight against us at Edrei town.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Ancient Roots Translinear      We faced South-Syria and ascended in the way. King Og of South-Syria proceeded to greet us with war, he and all his people in Dera.

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 Then we turned and went up towards Bashan, and Og, king of Bashan advanced to meet us with all his forces, to fight at Adarai.

Lexham English Bible            "Then we turned, and we went up the road to Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us, he and all [of] his army for the battle [at] Edrei.

NIV – UK                                Defeat of Og king of Bashan

Next we turned and went up along the road towards Bashan, and Og king of Bashan with his whole army marched out to meet us in battle at Edrei.

Catholic Bibles (those having the imprimatur):

Christian Community (1988)  On turning back, we went up the way to Bashan. Og, the king of Ba shan, and all his people came out to fight us in Edrei.

The Heritage Bible                 And we turned and went up the road to Bashan and Owg, king of Bashan, came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edre'iy.

New American Bible (2002)   "Then we turned and proceeded toward Bashan. But Og, king of Bashan, advanced against us with all his people to give battle at Edrei.

New American Bible (2011)              Defeat of Og.

Then we turned and proceeded up the road to Bashan. But Og, king of Bashan [Nm 21:33-35.], came out against us with all his people to give battle at Edrei..

New Jerusalem Bible             'We then turned on Bashan and invaded that. And Og king of Bashan marched out against us, he and all his people, to give battle at Edrei.

New RSV                               When we headed up the road to Bashan, King Og of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, for battle at Edrei.

Revised English Bible            Next we turned and advanced along the road to Bashan. King Og of Bashan came out with his whole army to give battle at Edrei.

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Complete Jewish Bible           "Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and 'Og the king of Bashan came out against us with all his people to fight at Edre'i.

exeGeses companion Bible   RESUME' OF THE DEFEAT OF OG

And we turned our face

and ascended the way to Bashan:

and Og the sovereign of Bashan

came out confronting us

- he and all his people, to war at Edrei.

JPS (Tanakh—1985)               We made our way up the road toward Bashan, and King Og of Bashan with all his men took the field against us at Edrei.

Kaplan Translation                 Last Episodes in the Desert

We then turned and traveled along the road to the Bashan, where Og and his troops came to confront us in battle at Edre'i.

Orthodox Jewish Bible           Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan; and Og Melech HaBashan came out against us, he and all his people, to engage in milchamah at Edrei.

Restored Names Version       And we turned and went up the road to Bashan and Owg, king of Bashan, came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edre'iy.

The Scriptures 1998              “Then we turned and went up the way to Bashan. And O sovereign of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Ereʽi.

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

The Expanded Bible              The Battle at Bashan

When we turned and went up the road toward Bashan, Og king of Bashan and all his army came out to fight us at Edrei.

The Geneva Bible                  Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan [Therefore aside from the commandment of the Lord, they had just cause to fight against him.] came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.

Kretzmann’s Commentary    The Overthrow of King Og of Bashan

Then we turned and went up the way to Bashan; and Og, the king of Bashan, came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei, Num. 21:33-35.

NET Bible®                             Defeat of King Og of Bashan

Next we set out on [Heb "turned and went up."] the route to Bashan, but King Og of Bashan and his whole army [Heb "people."] came out to meet us in battle at Edrei. When it comes to making an actual material change to the text, the NET Bible® is pretty good about indicating this. Since most of these corrections will be clear in the more literal translations below and within the Hebrew exegesis itself, I will not continue to list every NET Bible® footnote. Language footnotes will be placed in the Hebrew exegesis.

The Voice                               Moses: Then we left those conquered regions and continued up the road toward Bashan. Og, the king of Bashan, came out with his whole army to fight against us at Edrei.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

Concordant Literal Version    Then we turned around and ascended the Bashan road. And Og king of Bashan came forth to meet us, he and all his people, for battle at Edrei.

English Standard Version      The Defeat of King Og

"Then we turned and went up the way to Bashan. And Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.

God’s Truth (Tyndale)           Then we turned and went up the way to Basan. And Og the king of Basan came out against us: both he and all his people to battle at Edrei.

Green’s Literal Translation    And we turned and went up by the way of Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.

NASB                                     Conquests Recounted

"Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og, king of Bashan, with [lit., he and] all his people came out to meet us in battle at Edrei.

New European Version          Og King of Bashan Defeated

Then we turned and went up the way to Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.

New King James Version       King Og Defeated

"Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan; and Og king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.

Young's Updated LT              “And we turn, and go up the way to Bashan, and Og king of Bashan comes out to meet us, he and all his people, to battle, to Edrei.

The gist of this verse:          Moses, speaking to the children of Israel, reminds them of their recent victory over Og. As they had made a turn and were going along the road of Bashan, Og and his army came out to do battle with them.

Translation: “We then turned and went up the way of Bashan. Two generations of people left Egypt with Moses—Gen X, who believed in the Revealed God, but did not trust in Him daily (these were the adults to leave Egypt); and their children, the children of promise. God has killed off that first generation—they died the sin unto death. So now God has brought the next generation east of the Dead Sea, with the intention of entering into the Land of Promise from the east.

They more or less went due east, south of the Dead Sea, and then they made a turn to go northward. They would have found themselves on a road known as the way of Bashan.

The whole reason that this chapter is separated from chapter 2 is found in one word: pânâh (פָּנָה) [pronounced paw-NAWH], which means to turn, to turn away from, to turn toward, to turn one’s face away from, to turn one’s face to. Strong's #6437 BDB #815. They were going a rather circuitous route around a mountain, moving, more or less, to the east. Then, they will make a sharp left turn and begin going north on what is probably the King’s Highway, called here the way [road] of Bashan. The turn here appears to be another left turn, going toward the Jordan River. However, at this point, they will be met by Og and his army.

If it were me, I would have kept Deut. 2 and 3 as one chapter. That is their movement around the Dead Sea, going from Kedesh up to Pisgah.

The Route of Moses and the People (a map); from Jesus Walk; accessed March 28, 2015. There is some confusion about the circular route that the Jews took. What is undoubtedly true is, they did not follow along a straight route, going the shortest distance from point A to point B (from Kedesh to the other side of the Dead Sea).

Once the Jews were more or less east of the Dead Sea, then they took a rather direct route north, along the east side of the Dead Sea, running into problems with Sihon and Og, both kings of the Amorites. Sihon was discussed in Deut. 2 and Og will be discussed in this chapter.

Generally speaking, going up refers not to going north, per se, but to going up in elevation.

Dr. Thomas Constable: The land of Bashan was a fertile, heavily forested plateau famous for its oaks (Isaiah 2:13) and livestock (Deuteronomy 32:14; Amos 4:1).

Gill: [Bashan] was a fine country for pasturage, for the breeding of cattle, larger and lesser, and was famous for its oaks.

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown: [Bashan] lay situated to the north of Gilead and extended as far as Hermon. It was a rugged mountainous country, valuable however for its rich and luxuriant pastures.

Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge: Bashan, one of the most fertile districts of the Holy Land, was bounded on the west by the Jordan and lake of Gennesareth, on the east by Trachonitis, on the south by the brook Jabbok, and on the north by mount Hermon; and seems to have been composed of two or three districts, on the south the land of Gilead, on the north the region of Argob, and east of both, the plain of Nauran. The scenery of this elevated tract is described by Mr. Buckingham as extremely beautiful. its plains covered with a fertile soil; its hills covered with forests, and at every new turn presenting the most beautiful landscapes that can be imagined.

However, their intention was not to go into Bashan, but to head west to cross the Jordan. The first short leg of this journey would have been on the road to Bashan, and this was noticed by King Og’s people.

Translation: However, Og, the king of Bashan, came out to meet us... Both of these sentences begin with the wâw consecutive; the first I translated and so; the second however. I believe that once they got this far, they were on the King's Highway, a request which they had made of Edom some time ago.

The kings and peoples of these various areas knew who the Jews were and knew of their very unusual circumstances. They were slaves to Egypt, and their God led them out of Egypt to their own country, which God would give them.

Og at Bashan chose not to allow Israel safe passage, although Israel exhibited no threatening behavior. Og was apparently content having things the way they were and did not relish the idea of the Israelites dwelling so close to him. He did not necessarily know what the plans of the sons of Israel were; however, it had been their policy, after traveling through or beside the lands of Moab, Ammon and Edom to politely request permission to pass through. However, they were not going to pass through his land, but move due west now, across the Jordan, into Jericho. Og of Bashan chose not to allow them to do that just yet.

Joseph Parker: Is it not remarkable that good causes and good men should meet with constant opposition? We are now perusing the history of a journey which was undertaken by divine direction, and again and again-almost on every page-we come upon the fact that the journey was from end to end bitterly opposed...We may even go further and say-Had the people gone out in direct opposition to the will of God, they could scarcely have been resisted with more obstinate animosity. Looking at the intensity of the hatred which the progress of the Israelites excited, one might say, not without plausible reasoning, that they had wholly mistaken the course which they ought to have pursued; it would be simply impossible to believe that God could lead any people into so many snares, antagonisms, battles, and cruel repulsions.

The people of Og, which the Israelites would encounter, had two choices—they could accept the Jews as their new neighbors, and provide them food and water along their travels; or they could oppose them. This will become a familiar theme throughout the history of Israel (one which comes down to us today). When people had an openness toward Israel—a like of the country and the people—that was also their attitude toward Israel’s God. And those who rejected Israel and remain opposed to them—including many peoples and nations today—they oppose the God of Israel (even though we are no longer in the Age of Israel).

Joseph Parker explains by the example of our own Lord, that we ought to expect opposition in this life: Does no enemy arise against honesty? Does cleanliness, the simplest of the virtues, pursue an uninterrupted way-men, cities, and nations welcoming her and blessing her with thankfulness? Is the cause of temperance an easy, broad, and sunny road on which to travel, and having simply to show a radiant face, and lift up a ringing and pure voice to make converts by the thousand and the million? Name a good purpose which ever arose in your heart that was not instantly resisted by some force, sometimes without a name and without definite measure, sometimes almost a shadow, now and then apparently a mere superstition; still there was the hostile force. There need be no marvel then that precisely this fortune befell the progress of the Christian kingdom even when that kingdom was led visibly by the very Christ of God in the days of his flesh. He was "despised and rejected of men;" men sent after him the message,-We will not have You to reign over us. "He came unto His Own, and His own received Him not." At every heart He stands in a beggar’s attitude and adopts a suppliant’s tone. This is mysterious; this is bewildering; now and again it throws the heart into dejection akin to despair. The other course would have seemed so much more probable-that men should have seen Christ and instantly bowed down before him and hailed Him Redeemer-King.

Og apparently controlled northern Gilead and all of Bashan, and when the Jews got onto the road to Bashan, they were too close to him.

Og and the people of Bashan decided to oppose Moses and the Israelites. So they come out to meet them—not to help or to assist, but to oppose the Israelites.

J. Vernon McGee: Og was an Amorite king, a man of gigantic stature, whose kingdom seemed invincible.

The Biblical Illustrator: It was surprising that he did not take warning by the ruin of Sihon, and send to desire conditions of peace: but he trusted to his own strength and so was hardened to his own destruction. Those that are not awakened by the judgments of God upon others, but persist in their defiance of heaven, are ripening apace for the like judgments upon themselves (Jeremiah 3:8).

Application: Millions of people do not learn from what they see or know about. All of us know about the march of Germany prior to WWII in taking one country after another, and how they should have been stopped immediately. But we see the same thing occurring with Russia and with ISIS today (I write this in 2015). If you every want to see something that is frightening, google meth before and after; and view the photographs. Yet, people still take meth. Millions of lives are destroyed by drugs—those who take them and those who get in the way of distributors of drugs—and yet, the number of people who take drugs increases every day. So, the idea that one person sees consequences and yet does not apply it to his own actions—this just happens all the time. This is what being human with a sin nature is like.

The Israelites would not have been necessarily hostile to Moses and his men. God was leading them up north, to enter into the land of promise from the east. War was on their mind, but at some point in time in the future. They had no interest in the territory of Bashan.

Translation:...—he and all his people [met us] to [do] battle [at] Edrei. The people of Bashan, led by Og, came out to do battle against the Israelites in Edrei.

Interestingly enough, what Moses says here is almost exactly what he wrote in Num. 21:33 Then they turned and went up by the way to Bashan. And Og the king of Bashan came out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. (ESV) We do not know if he has the original manuscripts in front of him, and he is teaching from them; or if he has written out these sermons in Deuteronomy in advance.

Bashan is mostly north of where there Israelites are, so their turn was going to be towards the west, with the idea of moving across the Jordan into Canaan. In other words, they were not really in Bashan—other than, perhaps, on its outskirts. They were on the road to Bashan, but there was no indication that they were going to invade Bashan.

Og, therefore, was watching over the Israelites carefully (through spies) and had decided to strike them without meeting to discuss their intentions. According to Gill, Og is coming out of his nation’s capitol, Ashteroth. Ashteroth is relatively close to Edrie (Deut. 1:4), so Og had his capitol in the southern portion of Hesbon.

Peter Pett: The next road that they took was `the way to Bashan'. This immediately brought the Amorite king Bashan out to fight them with his armies. It will be noted that both in this case and in the case of Sihon the belligerency was on the part of the enemy. Until they crossed the Jordan this current Israel never initiated an attack unless they were first attacked.

His coming out to do battle with them will change everything. Instead of stopping to cross over the Jordan, the Jews would face Og and his army down, and then pursue them deep into Bashan.

Og would have been a more formidable adversary that Sihon, as he controlled a much larger territory.

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Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And so says Y^ehowah unto me, ‘You will not fear him, for in your hand I have given him and all his people and his land; and you have done to him as which you did to Sihon, king of the Amorite, who was dwelling in Heshbon.’

Targum of Onkelos                And the Lord said to me, Fear him not; for into your hand I have delivered him, and all his people, and his land; and you will do to him as you have done to Sihon king of the Amoraah, who dwelt in Heshbon.

Jerusalem targum                  When Mosheh saw that wicked one, he trembled before him, and said, Is not this he who did scoff at our father Abraham and Sarah, and said to them, Ye are like trees planted by a fountain of water, but ye bear no fruit? Therefore did the Holy One, blessed be He, and let His Name be glorified, cause him to wait, and prolong him many years alive, to show to him the generations, because He would deliver him into the hands of his (Abraham”s) children: therefore the Word of the Lord said to Mosheb, Be not afraid of him, for into your hand have I given him up, and all his people, and his land, and you will do to him as you have done to Sihon. king of the Amoraee, who dwelt in Heshbon. Very little of this looks at all similar to v. 2 (or even to v. 1).

Latin Vulgate                          And the Lord said to me: Fear him not: because he is delivered into your hand, with all his people and his land: and you will do to him as you have done to Sehon king of the Amorrhites, that dwelt in Hesebon.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    And the LORD said to me, Do not fear him; for I have delivered him, and all his people and his land into your hand; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon.

Septuagint (Greek)                And the Lord said to me, Fear him not, for I have delivered him, and all his people, and all his land, into your hands; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites who dwelt in Heshbon.

Significant differences:           Other than a lot of hoo hah in the Jerusalem targum, these various translations are in agreement with one another.

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

Bible in Basic English             And the Lord said to me, Have no fear of him: for I have given him and all his people and his land into your hands; do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who was ruling in Heshbon.

Easy English                          But the LORD said to me, "Do not be afraid of him. I have given him to you with his whole army and his country. You must do to Og as you did to Sihon. Sihon was king of the Amorites and he lived in Heshbon."

Easy-to-Read Version            The Lord said to me, ‘Don’t be afraid of Og. I have decided to give him to you. I will give you all his men and his land. You will defeat him just like you defeated Sihon, the Amorite king who ruled in Heshbon.’

Good News Bible (TEV)         But the LORD said to me, 'Don't be afraid of him. I am going to give him, his men, and all his territory to you. Do the same thing to him that you did to Sihon the Amorite king who ruled in Heshbon.'

The Message                         God said to me, "Don't be afraid of him; I'm turning him over to you, along with his whole army and his land. Treat him the way you treated Sihon king of the Amorites who ruled from Heshbon."

Names of God Bible               Yahweh said to me, "Don't be afraid of him. I'll hand him, all his troops, and his land over to you. Do to him what you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon."

NIRV                                      The LORD said to me, "Do not be afraid of Og. I have handed him over to you. I have also handed over his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon. Sihon was the Amorite king who ruled in Heshbon."

New Simplified Bible              »Jehovah said to me: ‘Do not be afraid of him. I will hand him, all his army, and his land, over to you. Do to him what you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon.’

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           The Lord said to me: Don't be afraid of him! I have handed him, all his forces, and his land over to you. Do the same thing to him that you did to Sihon, the Amorite king who ruled in Heshbon.

Contemporary English V.       But the LORD told me, "Moses, don't be afraid of King Og. I am going to help you defeat him and his army and take over his land. Destroy him and his people, just as you did with the Amorite King Sihon of Heshbon."

New Berkeley Version           Be not afraid of him, the Lord told me, for I have put him and all his people together with his land into your hands, and you must do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.

New Century Version             The Lord said to me, "Don't be afraid of Og, because I will hand him, his whole army, and his land over to you. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon."

New Living Translation           But the Lord told me, `Do not be afraid of him, for I have given you victory over Og and his entire army, and I will give you all his land. Treat him just as you treated King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon.'

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          And the Lord said to me: Don't be afraid of him, because I'm giving him, all of his people and all of his land into your hands. So, do to him as you did to Seon, the king of the Amorites who lived in Hesh-Eboneh.

International Standard V        Then the LORD told me, `Don't fear him, because I've delivered him, his army, and his territory into your control. Do to him just as you have done to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.'

New Advent (Knox) Bible       Do not be afraid of him, the Lord said to me; both he and his people and his country are at your mercy, and you must treat him as you treated the Amorrhite king Sehon, who reigned at Hesebon.

Translation for Translators     Yahweh said to me, `Do not be afraid of him, because I will enable your army to defeat [MTY] him and all his army and to capture all their land. Do to him what you did to Sihon, the king of the Amor people-group, who ruled in Heshbon city.'

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Ancient Roots Translinear      Yahweh said to me, "Never fear him. For I will give him and all his people and his land in your hand. Do to him as you did to King Sihon of North-Jordan, which dwelled in Hesban."

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 Then the EVER-LIVING said to me, - " Fear him not, for I have given him into your power, with all his forces, and his country ; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon."

Lexham English Bible            And Yahweh said to me, 'You should not fear him, for I have given him and all [of] his army [Or “people”] and his land into your hand. And [so] you will do to him as you did to Sihon the king of the Amorites [Hebrew “Amorite”], who [was] reigning in Heshbon.'

NIV – UK                                The Lord said to me, `Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.'

Catholic Bibles (those having the imprimatur):

Christian Community (1988)  Then Yahweh said to me: "Do not be afraid because I am giving him into your hands together with his people and his land, that you may do to him what you did to Sihon, the Amorite king who lived in Heshbon."

New American Bible (2011)   The LORD said to me, Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your power with all his people and his land. Do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.

New Jerusalem Bible             Yahweh said to me, "Do not be afraid of him, for I have put him at your mercy, him, all his people and his country. You will treat him as you treated Sihon king of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon."

New RSV                               The LORD said to me, `Do not fear him, for I have handed him over to you, along with his people and his land. Do to him as you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.'

Revised English Bible            The LORD assured me, "Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, with all his people and his land. Deal with him as you dealt with King Sihon of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon."

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Complete Jewish Bible           ADONAI said to me, 'Don't be afraid of him; for I have handed him, all his people and his territory over to you; you will do to him as you did to Sichon king of the Emori, who lived at Heshbon.'

exeGeses companion Bible   And Yah Veh said to me, Awe him not:

for I give him and all his people and his land

into your hand;

and work to him

as you worked to Sichon sovereign of the Emoriy,

who settles at Heshbon.

JPS (Tanakh—1985)               But the Lord said to me: Do not fear him, for I am delivering him and all his men and his country into your power, and you will do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.

Kaplan Translation                 God said to me, 'Do not be afraid of him, since I have turned him over to you along with all his people and his land. You will do the same to him as you did to the Amorite king Sichon, who lived in Cheshbon.'

Orthodox Jewish Bible           And Hashem said unto me, Fear him not; for I will deliver him, and all his people, and his land, into thy hand; and thou shalt do unto him as thou didst unto Sichon Melech HaEmori which dwelt at Cheshbon.

Restored Names Version       And Yahuwah said to me, 'Do not fear him for I have given him and all his people and his land into your hand. You will do to him as you did to Siychown king of the Emoriy who dwelt at Cheshbown.'

The Scriptures 1998              “And יהוה said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have given him and all his people and his land into your hand. And you shall do to him as you did to Siḥon sovereign of the Amorites, who dwelt at Ḥeshbon.ʼ

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

The Expanded Bible              The Lord said to me, "Don't be afraid of Og, because I will hand him, his whole army, and his land over to you. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon [Num. 21:33-35]."

Kretzmann’s Commentary    And the Lord said unto me, Fear him not; for I will deliver him and all his people and his land in to thy hand; and thou shalt do unto him as thou didst unto Sihon, king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. The children of Israel, then, were sure of the victory before ever the battle began.

NET Bible®                             The Lord, however, said to me, "Don't be afraid of him because I have already given him, his whole army [Heb "people."], and his land to you. You will do to him exactly what you did to King Sihon of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon."

The Voice                               But the Eternal reassured me, "Don't be afraid of him! I'm going to defeat him and his whole army for you, and I'll give you his land. You'll do the same thing to him that you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon."

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

Concordant Literal Version    But Yahweh said to me:Do not fear him, for into your hand I will give him, all his people and his country, and you will do to him just as you did to Sihon king of the Amorite who was dwelling in Heshbon.

Context Group Version          And YHWH said to me, Don't fear him; for I have delivered him, and all his people, and his land { or earth }, into your hand; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.

English Standard Version      But the LORD said to me, 'Do not fear him, for I have given him and all his people and his land into your hand. And you shall do to him as you did to Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.'

Green’s Literal Translation    And Jehovah said to me, Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand, and all his people, and his land. And you shall do to him as you have done to Sihon the king of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon.

God’s Truth (Tyndale)           And the Lord said unto me: fear him not, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand and you shall deal with him as you deal with Sihon king of the Amorites which dwelt at Hesbon.

World English Bible                Yahweh said to me, Don't fear him; for I have delivered him, and all his people, and his land, into your hand; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.

Young’s Updated LT             And Jehovah says unto me, ‘Fear him not, for into your hand I have given him, and all his people, and his land, and you have done to him as you have done to Sihon king of the Amorite who is dwelling in Heshbon.’

The gist of this verse:          God told Moses not to fear Og; and that he would be given over to Moses to be defeated just like Sihon.

Translation: And Y^ehowah said to me,... God spoke to Moses relatively often, and He needed to. Moses, with very little support, had to deal with 2 million Israelites who were often against him. Even his own brother and sister turned against him from time to time.

Translation:...‘You will not fear him,... This can also be translated do not fear him. It did not matter that Og was a warrior and his people were battle-hardened. God was going to take His people into the land of promise. Therefore, there was nothing which stood in their way that was to cause them any fear.

Peter Pett: When this great king with his armies appeared there were no doubt some fearful hearts in the ranks of Israel. But Yahweh immediately assured Moses that he was with them, and that He would deliver Og, his armies, his cities and his land into the hands of Israel.

Translation: ...for I have given him into your hand,... God tells Moses that Og and his people are given into his hand. This means that Moses and his people will be able to defeat them in battle.

Bear in mind, under these circumstances, God gives Sihon and Og into Moses’ hand, but that did not mean that the Israelites did nothing. They had to actually fight and kill these people in order to take their land. Action is often demanded of us.

Once they got this far, they were on the King's Highway, a request which they had made of Edom some time ago.

Translation: ...along with [lit., and] all his people and his land. God does not just give Og into Moses’ hand, but He gives to Moses all Og’s people and his land. This can all belong to Moses and the Israelites.

Again, bear in mind that, the Jews did not attack these various peoples out of spite or revenge. It was their time to be removed from the earth because of their negative volition. They were against God; and therefore, they were against the Jews. These two things go hand-in-hand.

Application: It is not a coincidence today that these Islamic nations are against Israel and against the United States. Because they have embraced Islam, they have rejected Jesus Christ and they have rejected His people. They are against the United States because there are so many Christians who live here; they are against Israel because there are so many Jews who live there.

Application: Because of their negative volition, these nations will be under divine discipline. Therefore, in most Muslim nations, there is going to be great internal strife. The U.A.E. is an example of what all the Middle East could be. These countries have earned billions of dollars selling their oil around the world. However, they have squandered much of this money on their evil religion—in many cases, funding terrorism. As a result they live in countries which are filled with poverty, despite the incredibly high median income that exists.

These people do not have to be egged on. The automatic response of Og and his people were to confront Israel and go to war against them.

Translation: You will do to him what you did to Sihon, the king of the Amorites,... Sihon the king of the Amorites tried to stand in Moses’s way, and to keep them from going northward. God allowed the Israelites to defeat them in battle.

To give you a better idea about the tense system in the Hebrew, we have an incident here which, in reference to when God spoke to Moses, occurred in the past—as you have done to him—and one that will take place in the future, with reference to when God spoke to Moses—you will do to him. God is using a past occurrence to encourage Moses in a future event; however, do, in both instances, is in the 2^nd person singular, Qal perfect. In the English, we translate this will do and have done; but, in the Hebrew, the verbs are exactly the same.

Easton: The whole country on the east of Jordan, from the Arnon to the Jabbok, was possessed by the Amorites, whose king, Sihon, refused to permit the Israelites to pass through his territory, and put his army in array against them. The Israelites went forth against him to battle, and gained a complete victory. The Amorites were defeated; Sihon, his sons, and all his people were smitten with the sword, his walled towns were captured, and the entire country of the Amorites was taken possession of by the Israelites (Num. 21:21–30 Deut. 2:24–37).

Num. 21:23–26 reads: But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. He gathered all his people together and went out against Israel to the wilderness and came to Jahaz and fought against Israel. And Israel defeated him with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as to the Ammonites, for the border of the Ammonites was strong. And Israel took all these cities, and Israel settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages. For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land out of his hand, as far as the Arnon.

Sihon occupied a smaller territory than Bashan, having just taken it from Moab. Bashan was better established with very well-fortified cities, as we will see, and his people covered a greater area. Whereas Bashan apparently tolerated the movement of the Amorites to the south, he was not going to tolerate the Israelites, as they were greater in number.

Application: The amount of territory a nation holds needs to be in balance with its military and people’s desire to be free. Holding too much territory can be very problematic, if it cannot be policed and protected.

God tells Moses, “You just do what you did to Sihon. I will see to it that you are victorious.”

Translation: ...who was living in Heshbon.’ Heshbon was the capitol city of Sihon; and they were beat badly.

Easton: [Heshbon is] a city ruled over by Sihon, king of the Amorites (Joshua 3:10; Joshua 13:17). It was taken by Moses (Num. 21:23–26), and became afterwards a Levitical city (Joshua 21:39) in the tribe of Reuben (Num. 32:37). After the Exile it was taken possession of by the Moabites (Isa. 15:4 Jer. 48:2, 34, 45). The ruins of this town are still seen about 20 miles east of Jordan from the north end of the Dead Sea. There are reservoirs in this district, which are probably the “fishpools” referred to in Song. 7:4.

Og at Bashan chose not to allow Israel safe passage, although Israel exhibited no threatening behavior. Og was apparently content having things the way their were and did not relish the idea of the Israelites dwelling so close to him. He did not necessarily know what the plans of the sons of Israel were; however, it had been their policy, after traveling through or beside the lands of Moab, Ammon and Edom to politely request permission to pass through. However, they were not going to pass through his land, but move due west now, across the Jordan, into Jericho. Bashan chose not to allow them to do that just yet.

Again, this tracks nearly exactly with the parallel passage in Numbers: Num. 21:34 But the LORD said to Moses, "Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand, and all his people, and his land. And you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon." (ESV)

And speaking of Sihon, this is what happened with him: Num. 21:23 But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. He gathered all his people together and went out against Israel to the wilderness and came to Jahaz and fought against Israel. And Israel defeated him with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as to the Ammonites, for the border of the Ammonites was strong. And Israel took all these cities, and Israel settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages.(ESV) Both Og and Sihon made the first aggressive moves against Israel.

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Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And so gives Y^ehowah our Elohim into our hand also Og king of the Bashan and all his people. And so we strike him until [there] is not left to him a survivor.

Targum of Onkelos                And the Lord our God gave up into our hands Og the king of Mathnan, and all his people; and we smote him till no remnant remained to him.

Latin Vulgate                          So the Lord our God delivered into our hands, Og also, the king of Basan, and all his people: and we utterly destroyed them.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    So the LORD our God delivered into our hand Og also, the king of Mathnin, and all his people; and we smote him until none was left to him surviving.

Septuagint (Greek)                And the Lord our God delivered him into our hands, even Og the king of Bashan, and all his people; and we struck him until we left none of his seed.

Significant differences:           The final phrase varies, but it essentially means the same thing.

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

Bible in Basic English             So the Lord our God gave up Og, king of Bashan, and all his people into our hands; and we overcame him so completely that all his people came to their end in the fight.

Easy English                          So the LORD our God also gave Og, king of Bashan, and all his army to us. We killed them and we left no one alive.

Easy-to-Read Version            “So the Lord our God let us defeat Og, the king of Bashan. We destroyed him and all his men. None of them were left.

Good News Bible (TEV)         "So the LORD also placed King Og and his people in our power, and we slaughtered them all.

The Message                         So God, our God, also handed Og king of Bashan over to us-Og and all his people-and we utterly crushed them. Again, no survivors.

Names of God Bible               So Yahweh our Elohim also handed King Og of Bashan and all his troops over to us. We defeated him, leaving no survivors.

NIRV                                      So the Lord our God also handed Og, the king of Bashan, and his whole army over to us. We struck them down. We didn't leave any of them alive.

New Simplified Bible              »So Jehovah our God also handed King Og of Bashan and all his army over to us. We defeated him and left no survivors.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           And so the Lord our God also handed Og, Bashan's king, along with his forces, over to us. We struck them down until no survivor was left.

Contemporary English V.       The LORD our God helped us destroy Og and his army and conquer his entire kingdom of Bashan, including the Argob region. His kingdom had lots of villages and sixty towns with high walls and gates that locked with bars. We completely destroyed them all, killing everyone,... Vv. 4–5 are included for context.

The Living Bible                     So the Lord helped us fight against King Og and his people, and we killed them all.

New Berkeley Version           Thus the Lord our God also delivered to us Og king of Bashan with all his people. We defeated him utterly; not one survivor did we leave him.

New Life Version                    So the Lord our God gave us Og king of Bashan and all his people also. We destroyed them until no one was left alive.

New Living Translation           "So the Lord our God handed King Og and all his people over to us, and we killed them all. Not a single person survived.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          'And Jehovah our God did give him into our hands, as well as all of his people. We cut them down until none of his seed was left; and then we captured all of his cities. For at that time, there were sixty cities all around the country of Argob that belonged to King Og. V. 4 is included for context.

Beck’s American Translation The LORD our God also put Og, king of Bashan, and all his men in our hands. We defeated him so completely nobody escaped.

International Standard V        "So the LORD our God also delivered into our control King Og of Bashan, along with his whole army. We attacked him until there were no survivors [Lit. survivors left to him].

Translation for Translators     So Yahweh enabled us to defeat [IDI] King Og and all his army. We killed them all; we did not allow any of them to remain alive.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Ancient Roots Translinear      Yahweh our God gave Og, the king of South-Syria in our hands and also all his people. We smote him until none remained of his as survivors.

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 So our Ever-living God also subjected to us Og, king of Bashan and all his forces, until not a remnant remained to him.

Lexham English Bible            And [so] Yahweh our God also gave Og the king of Bashan, and all of his army [or “people”] into our hand, and we struck him down until not a survivor remained to [or “for”] him.

NIV – UK                                So the Lord our God also gave into our hands Og king of Bashan and all his army. We struck them down, leaving no survivors.

Catholic Bibles (those having the imprimatur):

Christian Community (1988)  And Yah weh gave Og, the king of Bashan, and all his people into our hands; and sparing no one, we killed everyone by the sword.

New American Bible (2011)   And thus the LORD, our God, delivered into our power also Og, king of Bashan, with all his people. We defeated him so completely that we left him no survivor.

New Jerusalem Bible             So, Yahweh our God put Og king of Bashan at our mercy too, with all his people. We beat him so thoroughly that nobody was left.

New RSV                               So the Lord our God also handed over to us King Og of Bashan and all his people. We struck him down until not a single survivor was left.

Revised English Bible            So the LORD our God also delivered King Og of Bashan into our hands, with all his people. We slaughtered them and left him no survivor,...

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Complete Jewish Bible           So ADONAI our God also handed over to us 'Og the king of Bashan with all his people, and we defeated him until he had no one left.

exeGeses companion Bible   So Yah Veh our Elohim

also gave into our hands

Og the sovereign of Bashan and all his people:

and we smote him until no survivors survived:...

JPS (Tanakh—1985)               So the Lord our God also delivered into our power King Og of Bashan, with all his men, and we dealt them such a blow that no survivor was left.

Judaica Press Complete T.    So the Lord, our God, delivered into our hands also Og, the king of Bashan and all his people, and we smote him until no remnant remained of him.

Kaplan Translation                 God thus also turned Og [Numbers 21:33.], king of the Bashan, and all his people over to us, and we defeated him, not leaving any survivors.

Orthodox Jewish Bible           So Hashem Eloheinu delivered into our hands also Og Melech HaBashan, and all his people; and we struck him until no remnant was left to him.

Restored Names Version       And Yahuwah our Eloah also delivered into our hands Owg king of Bashan, with all his people and we attacked him until he had no survivors remaining.

The Scriptures 1998              “So יהוה our Elohim also gave into our hands Oḡ sovereign of Bashan, with all his people, and we smote him until he had no survivors remaining.

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

The Expanded Bible              So the Lord our God gave ·us [^Linto our hands] Og king of Bashan and all his army; we ·defeated [^Lstruck] them and ·left no one alive [there were no survivors].

Kretzmann’s Commentary    So the Lord, our God, delivered into our hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people; and we smote him until none was left to him remaining; for it was again a war of extermination.

NET Bible®                             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 [Heb "was left to him." The final phrase "to him" is redundant in English and has been left untranslated.].

The Voice                               The Eternal, our True God, defeated Og, king of Bashan, for us. We destroyed his whole army-there were no survivors left to fight for him.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

Emphasized Bible                  Then did Yahweh our God deliver into our hand, Og also, king of Bashan and all his people,—so we smote him until there was not left remaining to him a survivor.

Green’s Literal Translation    So the LORD our God gave into our hand Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people, and we struck him down until he had no survivor left.

God’s Truth (Tyndale)           And so the Lord our God delivered into our hands, Og also the king of Basan and all his folk. And we smote him until nought was left him.

New European Version          So Yahweh our God delivered into our hand Og also, the king of Bashan and all his people, and we struck him until none remained.

New King James Version       "So the Lord our God also delivered into our hands Og king of Bashan, with all his people, and we attacked him until he had no survivors remaining.

Webster’s Bible Translation  So Yahweh our God delivered into our hand Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we struck him until none was left to him remaining.

Young’s Updated LT             And Jehovah our God gives into our hands also Og king of Bashan, and all his people, and we strike him till there has not been left to him a remnant.

The gist of this verse:          God gave Og, the king of Bashan, and all of his people, into the hand of the Israelites. They killed every single one of them.

Translation: So Y^ehowah our Elohim gave Og, the king of Bashan, into our hand, along with [lit., and] his entire army [lit., all his people]. God gave Sihon into their hand and gave Og as well into their hand. God let the Israelites defeat them and his entire army as well.

This prepares them for taking the land. God gave these two great warriors and their armies into Israel’s hand; this means that God will continue to do so, because this is what He has promised them.

Moses is still speaking to the generation of promise, holding up to them what is a very recent memory—their victory over Og, king of Bashan. In their movement to Jordan Jericho, the battles with Sihon and Og occurred quickly—they were given no chance to think about it. They were in a situation where they had to fight and there was no time to ruminate. Had they thought about what they were going to do in advance, the defeat of Bashan would have seemed impossible. Og of Bashan was a giant of a man with a powerful fighting force, occupying fortified cities. The armies of Bashan most certainly had some weapons of iron, if Og's bed was made of iron (we will see that later in this chapter).

Now the Jews are going to go into the land, and they already know that it is occupied by giants (according to their fathers and according to the spies who went into the land). The encouragement here is that God has proven to them against two powerful kings and their nations that He can deliver them. The skirmishes with these other kings which ended in victory are to encourage them in dealing with the Canaanites in the land.

Translation: We [continue to] strike him until [there] was no survivor left to him. Israel continued to pound Og and his army until there were no survivors remaining.

To compare, the fight against the people of Bashan from Numbers 21:33–35: Then they turned and went up by the way of Bashan, and Og, the king of Bashan, came out with all his people to battle at Edrei. But Y^ehowah said to Moses, "Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand, and all his people and his land; and you will do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites who lived at Heshbon." So they struck him down and his sons and all his people, until there was no remnant left him; and they possessed his land. As you can see, the recollections are almost word-for-word.

I find it interesting that the history recorded by Moses is almost word-for-word what he says to this people. Since Moses is going to die within the month and not go into the Land of Promise, he would reasonably have written all of these things down. So, let me suggest that he is reading from the original Scriptures. Now, in Numbers, he is writing properly in the 3^rd person limited omniscience. However, at this time, he is speaking aloud to the Israelites who witnessed all of this and fought in these battles.

Peter Pett: The result was a resounding victory. God was acting on their behalf. The whole of Og's armies were slaughtered. As far as was possible not one was left alive. They were carrying out God's requirements to the letter.

Moses is explaining God’s faithfulness to the Jewish people as they moved northward. He is preparing them for perhaps a decade of war where they would take over the Land of Promise.