24 Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle.

25 This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee.

26 And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth unto Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,

27 Let me pass through thy land: I will go along by the high way, I will neither turn unto the right hand nor to the left.

28 Thou shalt sell me meat for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink: only I will pass through on my feet;

29 (As the children of Esau which dwell in Seir, and the Moabites which dwell in Ar, did unto me;) until I shall pass over Jordan into the land which the Lord our God giveth us.

30 But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the Lord thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day.

31 And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land before thee: begin to possess, that thou mayest inherit his land.

32 Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz.

33 And the Lord our God delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people.

34 And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain:

35 Only the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves, and the spoil of the cities which we took.

36 From Aroer, which is by the brink of the river of Arnon, and from the city that is by the river, even unto Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us: the Lord our God delivered all unto us:

37 Only unto the land of the children of Ammon thou camest not, nor unto any place of the river Jabbok, nor unto the cities in the mountains, nor unto whatsoever the Lord our God forbad us.

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.

And the Lord 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 Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon.

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.

And we took all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not from them, threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many.

And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city.

But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves.

And we took at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites the land that was on this side Jordan, from the river of Arnon unto mount Hermon;

(Which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion; and the Amorites call it Shenir;)

10 All the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salchah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

11 For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.

24 “Then the Lord said, ‘Cross the Arnon River into the land of King Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon. War against him and begin to take possession of his land. 25 Beginning today I will make people throughout the whole earth tremble with fear because of you, and dread your arrival.’

26 “Then from the wilderness of Kedemoth I sent ambassadors to King Sihon of Heshbon with a proposal of peace. 27 ‘Let us pass through your land,’ we said. ‘We will stay on the main road and won’t turn off into the fields on either side. 28 We will not steal food as we go, but will purchase every bite we eat and everything we drink; all we want is permission to pass through. 29 The Edomites at Seir allowed us to go through their country, and so did the Moabites, whose capital is at Ar. We are on our way across the Jordan into the land the Lord our God has given us.’

30 “But King Sihon refused because Jehovah your God made him obstinate, so that he could destroy Sihon by the hands of Israel, as has now been done.

31 “Then the Lord said to me, ‘I have begun to give you the land of King Sihon; when you possess it, it shall belong to Israel forever.’

32 “King Sihon then declared war on us and mobilized his forces at Jahaz. 33-34 But the Lord our God crushed him, and we conquered all his cities and utterly destroyed everything, including the women and babies. We left nothing alive 35-36 except the cattle, which we took as our reward, along with the booty gained from ransacking the cities we had taken. We conquered everything from Aroer to Gilead—from the edge of the Arnon River Valley, and including all the cities in the valley. Not one city was too strong for us, for the Lord our God gave all of them to us. 37 However, we stayed away from the people of Ammon and from the Jabbok River and the hill country cities, the places Jehovah our God had forbidden us to enter.

1-2 “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.’ So the Lord helped us fight against King Og and his people, and we killed them all. We conquered all sixty of his cities, the entire Argob region of Bashan. These were well-fortified cities with high walls and barred gates. Of course we also took all of the unwalled towns. We utterly destroyed the kingdom of Bashan just as we had destroyed King Sihon’s kingdom at Heshbon, killing the entire population—men, women, and children alike. But we kept the cattle and loot for ourselves.

“We now possessed all the land of the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan River—all the land from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon. (The Sidonians called Mount Hermon ‘Sirion,’ while the Amorites called it ‘Senir.’) 10 We had now conquered all the cities on the plateau, and all of Gilead and Bashan as far as the cities of Salecah and Edrei.

11 “Incidentally, King Og of Bashan was the last of the giant Rephaim. His iron bedstead is kept in a museum at Rabbah, one of the cities of the Ammonites, and measures thirteen and a half feet long by six feet wide.

Defeat of Sihon King of Heshbon

24 “Set out now and cross the Arnon Gorge.(A) See, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite,(B) king of Heshbon, and his country. Begin to take possession of it and engage(C) him in battle. 25 This very day I will begin to put the terror(D) and fear(E) of you on all the nations under heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble(F) and be in anguish because of you.”

26 From the Desert of Kedemoth(G) I sent messengers to Sihon(H) king of Heshbon offering peace(I) and saying, 27 “Let us pass through your country. We will stay on the main road; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left.(J) 28 Sell us food to eat(K) and water to drink for their price in silver. Only let us pass through on foot(L) 29 as the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, did for us—until we cross the Jordan into the land the Lord our God is giving us.” 30 But Sihon king of Heshbon refused to let us pass through. For the Lord(M) your God had made his spirit stubborn(N) and his heart obstinate(O) in order to give him into your hands,(P) as he has now done.

31 The Lord said to me, “See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his country over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land.”(Q)

32 When Sihon and all his army came out to meet us in battle(R) at Jahaz, 33 the Lord our God delivered(S) him over to us and we struck him down,(T) together with his sons and his whole army. 34 At that time we took all his towns and completely destroyed[a](U) them—men, women and children. We left no survivors. 35 But the livestock(V) and the plunder(W) from the towns we had captured we carried off for ourselves. 36 From Aroer(X) on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the gorge, even as far as Gilead,(Y) not one town was too strong for us. The Lord our God gave(Z) us all of them. 37 But in accordance with the command of the Lord our God,(AA) you did not encroach on any of the land of the Ammonites,(AB) neither the land along the course of the Jabbok(AC) nor that around the towns in the hills.

Defeat of Og King of Bashan

Next we turned and went up along the road toward Bashan, and Og king of Bashan(AD) with his whole army marched out to meet us in battle at Edrei.(AE) The Lord said to me, “Do not be afraid(AF) 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.”

So the Lord our God also gave into our hands Og king of Bashan and all his army. We struck them down,(AG) leaving no survivors.(AH) At that time we took all his cities.(AI) There was not one of the sixty cities that we did not take from them—the whole region of Argob, Og’s kingdom(AJ) in Bashan.(AK) All these cities were fortified with high walls and with gates and bars, and there were also a great many unwalled villages. We completely destroyed[b] them, as we had done with Sihon king of Heshbon, destroying[c](AL) every city—men, women and children. But all the livestock(AM) and the plunder from their cities we carried off for ourselves.

So at that time we took from these two kings of the Amorites(AN) the territory east of the Jordan, from the Arnon Gorge as far as Mount Hermon.(AO) (Hermon is called Sirion(AP) by the Sidonians; the Amorites call it Senir.)(AQ) 10 We took all the towns on the plateau, and all Gilead, and all Bashan as far as Salekah(AR) and Edrei, towns of Og’s kingdom in Bashan. 11 (Og king of Bashan was the last of the Rephaites.(AS) His bed was decorated with iron and was more than nine cubits long and four cubits wide.[d] It is still in Rabbah(AT) of the Ammonites.)

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 2:34 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.
  2. Deuteronomy 3:6 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.
  3. Deuteronomy 3:6 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.
  4. Deuteronomy 3:11 That is, about 14 feet long and 6 feet wide or about 4 meters long and 1.8 meters wide