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Deuteronomy 3

God grants Israel victory and land while requiring shared service, denying Moses entry, and appointing Joshua to lead.

Moses recounts to Israel the defeat of Og king of Bashan and the capture of his fortified cities east of the Jordan. The account includes the destruction of entire communities, including children. Moses then describes how the conquered land was divided and why its armed men must still help their fellow Israelites. As the crossing approaches, he recalls encouraging Joshua and begging to enter the land himself. God refuses Moses’ request and commands him to prepare Joshua to lead.

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1Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan. Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.
2The LORD said to me, “Don’t fear him; for I have delivered him, with all his people and his land, into your hand. You shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.”
3So the LORD our God also delivered into our hand Og, the king of Bashan, and all his people. We struck him until no one was left to him remaining.
4We took all his cities at that time. There was not a city which we didn’t take from them: sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
5All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, in addition to a great many villages without walls.
6We utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones.
7But all the livestock, and the plunder of the cities, we took for plunder for ourselves.
8We took the land at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon.
9(The Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir.)
10We took all the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, to Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
11(For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron. Isn’t it in Rabbah of the children of Ammon? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its width, after the cubit of a man.)
12This land we took in possession at that time: from Aroer, which is by the valley of the Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead with its cities, I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites;
13and the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh—all the region of Argob, even all Bashan. (The same is called the land of Rephaim.
14Jair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob, to the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and called them, even Bashan, after his own name, Havvoth Jair, to this day.)
15I gave Gilead to Machir.
16To the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave from Gilead even to the valley of the Arnon, the middle of the valley, and its border, even to the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon;
17the Arabah also, and the Jordan and its border, from Chinnereth even to the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah eastward.
18I commanded you at that time, saying, “The LORD your God has given you this land to possess it. All of you men of valor shall pass over armed before your brothers, the children of Israel.
20until the LORD gives rest to your brothers, as to you, and they also possess the land which the LORD your God gives them beyond the Jordan. Then you shall each return to his own possession, which I have given you.”
21I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, “Your eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings. So shall the LORD do to all the kingdoms where you go over.
22You shall not fear them; for the LORD your God himself fights for you.”
24“Lord GOD, you have begun to show your servant your greatness, and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or in earth that can do works like yours, and mighty acts like yours?
25Please let me go over and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that fine mountain, and Lebanon.”
26But the LORD was angry with me because of you, and didn’t listen to me. The LORD said to me, “That is enough! Speak no more to me of this matter.
27Go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift up your eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and see with your eyes; for you shall not go over this Jordan.
28But commission Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him; for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which you shall see.”
29So we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Deuteronomy 3:22Moses grounds courage for the coming battles in YHWH’s own action, which Joshua has already witnessed.
Deuteronomy 3:28God directs Moses to strengthen the successor who will lead Israel into the land Moses may only see.
Deuteronomy 3:24Moses begins his plea by confessing God’s unmatched greatness, even though God will refuse the request that follows.
Where this chapter reaches

Numbers recounts the same defeat of Og and the eastern tribes’ agreement to help their fellow Israelites, while Joshua records their service across the Jordan. Psalm shares the remembrance of victory over Og as an act of God’s enduring mercy toward Israel.

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Questions people ask about Deuteronomy 3

Why was Moses not allowed to enter the promised land?

Moses says YHWH was angry with him because of the people, but this chapter does not retell the incident behind that judgment. Numbers connects his exclusion to his failure to uphold God’s holiness at the waters of Meribah. Here, God confirms the boundary: Moses may see the land, while Joshua will lead Israel into it.

Why were women and children killed in Deuteronomy 3?

The chapter reports the destruction of Og’s cities, including women and children, as part of Israel’s conquest under God’s direction. It does not explain the fate of each person or give a separate reason concerning the children. The account concerns this conquest; it provides no standing command for readers to wage such warfare.

What does Deuteronomy 3:22 mean?

Moses tells Joshua and Israel that they need not fear the kingdoms ahead because YHWH fights for them. The assurance rests on the defeats of Sihon and Og, which Joshua has seen. Its immediate setting is Israel’s coming conquest across the Jordan, rather than a promise of success in every conflict.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).