101 God responded. He said, "Shape two slabs of stone similar to the first ones. Climb the mountain and meet me. Also make yourself a wooden chest. 2 I will engrave the stone slabs with the words that were on the first ones, the ones you smashed. Then you will put them in the Chest." 3 So I made a chest out of acacia wood, shaped two slabs of stone, just like the first ones, and climbed the mountain with the two slabs in my arms. 4 He engraved the stone slabs the same as he had the first ones, the Ten Words that he addressed to you on the mountain out of the fire on the day of the assembly. Then God gave them to me. 5 I turned around and came down the mountain. I put the stone slabs in the Chest that I made and they've been there ever since, just as God commanded me. 6 The People of Israel went from the wells of the Jaakanites to Moserah. Aaron died there and was buried. His son Eleazar succeeded him as priest. 7 From there they went to Gudgodah, and then to Jotbathah, a land of streams of water. 8 That's when God set apart the tribe of Levi to carry God's Covenant Chest, to be on duty in the Presence of God, to serve him, and to bless in his name, as they continue to do today. 9 And that's why Levites don't have a piece of inherited land as their kinsmen do. God is their inheritance, as God, your God, promised them. 10 I stayed there on the mountain forty days and nights, just as I did the first time. And God listened to me, just as he did the first time: God decided not to destroy you. 11 God told me, "Now get going. Lead your people as they resume the journey to take possession of the land that I promised their ancestors that I'd give to them."
12 So now Israel, what do you think God expects from you? Just this: Live in his presence in holy reverence, follow the road he sets out for you, love him, serve God, your God, with everything you have in you, 13 obey the commandments and regulations of God that I'm commanding you today - live a good life. 14 Look around you: Everything you see is God's - the heavens above and beyond, the Earth, and everything on it. 15 But it was your ancestors that God fell in love with; he picked their children - that's you! - out of all the other peoples. That's where we are right now. 16 So cut away the thick calluses from your heart and stop being so willfully hardheaded. 17 God, your God, is the God of all gods, he's the Master of all masters, a God immense and powerful and awesome. He doesn't play favorites, takes no bribes, 18 makes sure orphans and widows are treated fairly, takes loving care of foreigners by seeing that they get food and clothing. 19 You must treat foreigners with the same loving care - remember, you were once foreigners in Egypt. 20 Reverently respect God, your God, serve him, hold tight to him, back up your promises with the authority of his name. 21 He's your praise! He's your God! He did all these tremendous, these staggering things that you saw with your own eyes. 22 When your ancestors entered Egypt, they numbered a mere seventy souls. And now look at you - you look more like the stars in the night skies in number. And your God did it.
31 Then we turned north and took the road to Bashan. Og king of Bashan, he and all his people, came out to meet us in battle at Edrei. 2 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." 3 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. 4 At the same time we took all his cities. There wasn't one of the sixty cities that we didn't take - the whole region of Argob, Og's kingdom in Bashan. 5 All these cities were fortress cities with high walls and barred gates. There were also numerous unwalled villages. 6 We totally destroyed them - a holy destruction. It was the same treatment we gave to Sihon king of Heshbon, a holy destruction of every city, man, woman, and child. 7 But all the livestock and plunder from the cities we took for ourselves. 8 Throughout that time we took the land from under the control of the two kings of the Amorites who ruled the country east of the Jordan, all the way from the Brook Arnon to Mount Hermon. 9 (Sirion is the name given Hermon by the Sidonians; the Amorites call it Senir.) 10 We took all the towns of the plateau, everything in Gilead, everything in Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, the border towns of Bashan, Og's kingdom. 11 Og king of Bashan was the last remaining Rephaite. His bed, made of iron, was over thirteen feet long and six wide. You can still see it on display in Rabbah of the People of Ammon.
12 Of the land that we possessed at that time, I gave the Reubenites and the Gadites the territory north of Aroer along the Brook Arnon and half the hill country of Gilead with its towns. 13 I gave the half-tribe of Manasseh the rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, Og's kingdom - all the region of Argob, which takes in all of Bashan. This used to be known as the Land of the Rephaites. 14 Jair, a son of Manasseh, got the region of Argob to the borders of the Geshurites and Maacathites. He named the Bashan villages after himself, Havvoth Jair (Jair's Tent-Villages). They're still called that. 15 I gave Gilead to Makir. 16 I gave the Reubenites and Gadites the land from Gilead down to the Brook Arnon, whose middle was the boundary, and as far as the Jabbok River, the boundary line of the People of Ammon. 17 The western boundary was the Jordan River in the Arabah all the way from the Kinnereth (the Sea of Galilee) to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea or Dead Sea) at the base of the slopes of Mount Pisgah on the east. 18 I commanded you at that time, "God, your God, has given you this land to possess. Your men, fit and armed for the fight, are to cross the river in advance of their brothers, the People of Israel. 19 Only your wives, children, and livestock (I know you have much livestock) may go ahead and settle down in the towns I have already given you 20 until God secures living space for your brothers as he has for you and they have taken possession of the country west of the Jordan that God, your God, is giving them. After that, each man may return to the land I've given you here."
21 I commanded Joshua at that time, "You've seen with your own two eyes everything God, your God, has done to these two kings. God is going to do the same thing to all the kingdoms over there across the river where you're headed. 22 Don't be afraid of them. God, your God, - he's fighting for you."
23 At that same time, I begged God: 24 "God, my Master, you let me in on the beginnings, you let me see your greatness, you let me see your might - what god in Heaven or Earth can do anything like what you've done! 25 Please, let me in also on the endings, let me cross the river and see the good land over the Jordan, the lush hills, the Lebanon mountains." 26 But God was still angry with me because of you. He wouldn't listen. He said, "Enough of that. Not another word from you on this. 27 Climb to the top of Mount Pisgah and look around: look west, north, south, east. Take in the land with your own eyes. Take a good look because you're not going to cross this Jordan. 28 "Then command Joshua: Give him courage. Give him strength. Single-handed he will lead this people across the river. Single-handed he'll cause them to inherit the land at which you can only look." 29 That's why we have stayed in this valley near Beth Peor.
