Deuteronomy 2:37

2:37 However, you did not approach the land of the Ammonites, the Wadi Jabbok, the cities of the hill country, or any place else forbidden by the Lord our God.

Deuteronomy 3:12

Distribution of the Transjordanian Allotments

3:12 This is the land we brought under our control at that time: The territory extending from Aroer by the Wadi Arnon and half the Gilead hill country with its cities I gave to the Reubenites and Gadites.

Deuteronomy 6:10

Exhortation to Worship the Lord Exclusively

6:10 Then when the Lord your God brings you to the land he promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you – a land with large, fine cities you did not build,

Deuteronomy 9:1

Theological Justification of the Conquest

9:1 Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan so you can dispossess the nations there, people greater and stronger than you who live in large cities with extremely high fortifications.

Deuteronomy 13:13

13:13 some evil people have departed from among you to entice the inhabitants of their cities, saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods” (whom you have not known before).

Deuteronomy 19:3

19:3 You shall build a roadway and divide into thirds the whole extent of your land that the Lord your God is providing as your inheritance; anyone who kills another person should flee to the closest of these cities.

Deuteronomy 19:9

19:9 and then you are careful to observe all these commandments I am giving 10  you today (namely, to love the Lord your God and to always walk in his ways), then you must add three more cities 11  to these three.

Deuteronomy 20:16

Laws Concerning War with Canaanite Nations

20:16 As for the cities of these peoples that 12  the Lord your God is going to give you as an inheritance, you must not allow a single living thing 13  to survive.


sn Wadi Jabbok. Now known as the Zerqa River, this is a major tributary of the Jordan that normally served as a boundary between Ammon and Gad (Deut 3:16).

tn The words “the territory extending” are not in the Hebrew text; they are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

sn Aroer. See note on this term in Deut 2:36.

sn Reubenites and Gadites. By the time of Moses’ address the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh had already been granted permission to settle in the Transjordan, provided they helped the other tribes subdue the occupants of Canaan (cf. Num 32:28-42).

tn Heb “fortified to the heavens” (so NRSV); NLT “cities with walls that reach to the sky.” This is hyperbole.

tn Heb “men, sons of Belial.” The Hebrew term בְּלִיַּעַל (bÿliyyaal) has the idea of worthlessness, without morals or scruples (HALOT 133-34 s.v.). Cf. NAB, NRSV “scoundrels”; TEV, CEV “worthless people”; NLT “worthless rabble.”

tc The LXX and Tg read “your” for the MT’s “their.”

tn The translation understands the relative clause as a statement by Moses, not as part of the quotation from the evildoers. See also v. 2.

tn Heb “border.”

tn Heb “all this commandment.” This refers here to the entire covenant agreement of the Book of Deuteronomy as encapsulated in the Shema (Deut 6:4-5).

10 tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today.”

11 sn You will add three more cities. Since these are alluded to nowhere else and thus were probably never added, this must be a provision for other cities of refuge should they be needed (cf. v. 8). See P. C. Craigie, Deuteronomy (NICOT), 267.

12 tn The antecedent of the relative pronoun is “cities.”

13 tn Heb “any breath.”