Study Desk

"We took only the cattle as plunder for ourselves and the spoil of the cities which we had captured.

"From Aroer, which is on the edge of the Arnon Valley, and from the city which is in the valley, as far as Gilead, there was no city [whose wall was] too high and too strong for us; the LORD our God handed over everything to us.

"And the LORD said to me, 'Do not fear him, for I have handed him over to you, him and all his people and his land; and you shall do to him just as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.'

"But we took all the cattle and the spoil of the cities as plunder for ourselves.

(For only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the [giants known as the] Rephaim. Behold, his bed frame was a bed frame of iron; is it not in Rabbah of the Ammonites? It was nine cubits (12 ft.) long and four cubits (6 ft.) wide, using the cubit of a man [the forearm to the end of the middle finger].)

'Do not fear them, for it is the LORD your God who is fighting for you.'

"Then I pleaded with the LORD at that time [for His favor], saying,

'O Lord GOD, You have only begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your mighty hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth that can do such works and mighty acts (miracles) as Yours?

'Go up to the top of [Mount] Pisgah and raise your eyes toward the west and north and south and east, and see it with your eyes, for you shall not cross this Jordan.

'But command Joshua and encourage and strengthen him, for he shall go across and lead this people, and he will give them the land which you see as an inheritance.'

"Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor; for all the men who followed [and participated in the worship of] Baal of Peor, the LORD your God destroyed them from among you,

"So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'

"For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God [is to us] whenever we call on Him?

"So pay attention and watch yourselves carefully—for you did not see any form [of God] on the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire—

so that you do not act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved or sculpted image [to worship] in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

"But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron [smelting] furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people for His own possession, as [you are] this day.

"For I am going to die in this land, I am not going to cross the Jordan, but you shall cross over and take possession of this good land.

"So be on your guard and watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He has made with you, and make for yourselves a carved or sculpted image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you.

"For the LORD your God is a consuming fire; He is a jealous (impassioned) God [demanding what is rightfully and uniquely His].

"When you become the father of children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, then if you corrupt yourselves by making a carved or sculpted image in the form of anything [for the purpose of worship], and do evil [things] in the sight of the LORD your God, provoking Him to anger,