Knox Bible

1

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.

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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.

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So the Lord our God gave us a fresh victory over Og, king of Basan, and all his people, and we exterminated them,

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there and then laying waste all his cities, all the sixty cities of Argob in Basan, where Og reigned; not a town escaped us.

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All sixty were fortified with high walls, gates and bars; and there were other, unwalled towns past numbering.

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We made an end of them, as we had made an end of Sehon, that reigned in Hesebon, destroying all the inhabitants of their cities, men, women and children,

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plundering their cattle and all the plunder their cities yielded.✻

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The territory we wrested at this time from the power of the two Amorrhite kings was the land beyond Jordan, from the Arnon ravine up to mount Hermon

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(which the Sidonians call Sarion, and the Amorrhites Sanir);

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all the lowland cities, and the whole of Galaad and Basan up to Selcha and Edrai, where Og, king of Basan, reigned.

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(This Og, king of Basan, was the only one left of the old giant breed; at Rabbath, in the Ammonite country, they still shew his iron bedstead, nine cubits long and four cubits broad, as we lesser men reckon the size of a cubit.)

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The land thus conquered, from Aroer on the Arnon to the middle of the hill country of Galaad, I gave, with its cities, to Ruben and Gad.

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There was room, too, for half the tribe of Manasses in the rest of Galaad and in Basan, that is, the country of Argob; (Basan is also called the Land of Giants.

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It was Jair, a descendant of Manasses, that won possession of Argob, right up to the borders of Gessuri and Machati, and called Basan after his own name, Havoth-Jair, that is, Jair’s villages, which is the name they bear still.)✻

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The Machirite clan of Manasses found their home in Galaad as well as in Basan;

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but the rest of Galaad I gave to Ruben and Gad, reaching half-way up the Arnon ravine, with the border-lands that run up to the river Jeboc, where the Ammonites have their frontier,

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the wild plains, too, and the eastern bank of Jordan from Cenereth as far as the desert sea called the Sea of Salt, and the spurs of Phasga.

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At the same time I charged you of the three tribes, The Lord your God is giving you this territory for your home, but all of you that are fighting men must march in the van with the other tribes of Israel, your brethren,

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leaving your wives and children and cattle behind you; I know well that you are rich in cattle. These must be left in the cities I have assigned to you,

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until the Lord grants to your brethren, as to you, peaceful possession of their lands, the lands he means to give them across the Jordan. Then you can go back, and each shall enjoy the portion I have assigned to him.

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Then, too, I said to Josue, Thy own eyes have witnessed what light work the Lord your God made of these two kings; it will fare no better with the kingdoms thou wilt find beyond the river.

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Do not be afraid of them; the Lord your God means to do battle for you.

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Then, too, I pleaded with the Lord, and this was my prayer:

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Lord God, thou hast given thy servant proof already of thy greatness, of the strength thy arm can wield; what other god in heaven or on earth can rival thy deeds, can match his power with thine?

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Let me go across, then, and have sight of this fair land beyond the Jordan, of its noble hills, and of Lebanon itself!

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But the Lord, through your fault, was angry with me, and would not listen to me. Enough, he said, speak to me of this no more.

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Go up if thou wilt to the top of Phasga, and turn thy eyes west, north, south and east; the sight of it thou mayest have, but thou shalt not cross yonder stream of Jordan.

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Give charge to Josue, bid him take heart and play the man; he it is that shall march at the head of this people of mine, and distribute to them the land thou must be content with seeing.

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So we lay encamped, there in the valley, opposite the shrine of Phogor.