Sihon and Og Defeated

The people mourned for Aaron thirty days. When the mourning was over, Moses moved the army on from that place and came to the river Arnon. It rises in the mountains of Arabia, runs through that whole wilderness and falls into Lake Asphaltitis, and it forms the boundary between the land of the Moabites and the land of the Amorites. This land is fertile, and able to support a great number of people with the good things it produces. So Moses sent messengers to Sihon, the king of this country, asking him to grant his army passage on whatever security he wished to require. He promised that Sihon would come to no harm, either in the country he ruled or in its inhabitants, and that he would buy his provisions at a price to their advantage, even if Sihon wanted to sell them their very water. But Sihon refused his offer, drew up his army for battle, and made every preparation to stop them crossing the Arnon. [a]

When Moses saw that the Amorite king was set on hostilities with them, he thought he ought not to put up with the insult. He was determined to wean the Hebrews from their idleness and from the hardship that came from it, which had been the cause of their earlier revolt — and indeed they were still not fully at ease in their minds. So he asked God whether he would give him leave to fight. When he had done so, and God had also promised him the victory, he became very bold himself and ready to go on to battle. He encouraged the soldiers and told them to take their pleasure in fighting, now that God gave them leave to do it. Having received the permission they had so longed for, they put on their full armor and set to work without delay. But the Amorite king was no longer himself once the Hebrews were ready to attack him. He himself was terrified of the Hebrews, and his army, which had shown great courage before, now proved timid. They could not withstand the first charge or hold their ground against the Hebrews, but fled, thinking flight a likelier way of escape than fighting. They relied on their cities, which were strong, but gained nothing from them when they were forced to flee to them. As soon as the Hebrews saw them giving ground, they pursued them closely, broke their ranks and threw them into great terror, and some broke away from the rest and ran off to the cities. The Hebrews pursued them hotly and kept stubbornly at the toil they had already undergone. They were very skilled with the sling and very deft at throwing javelins and the like, and since they had nothing but light armor, which made them quick in pursuit, they overtook their enemies; and those who were too far off to be overtaken they reached with slings and bows. So many were killed, and those who escaped the slaughter were badly wounded — and these suffered more from thirst than from anyone fighting them, for it was summer. When most of them had come down to the river longing to drink, and others were fleeing in bands, the Hebrews surrounded them and shot at them, so that with javelins and arrows they slaughtered them all. Sihon their king was killed too. The Hebrews stripped the dead and took the plunder. The land they took was full of produce, and the army went all over it without fear, foraging as it went, and they took the cities as well, since nothing could stop them, now that all the fighting men were dead. Such was the destruction that overtook the Amorites, who were neither wise in counsel nor brave in action. The Hebrews took possession of their land, a country lying between three rivers and much like an island by nature: the river Arnon is its southern boundary; the river Jabbok marks its northern side, and running into the Jordan it loses its own name and takes the other's; and the Jordan itself runs along its western side. [b]

When matters had reached this point, Og, the king of Gilead and Gaulanitis, attacked the Israelites. He brought an army with him and came in haste to help his friend Sihon. Though he found him already dead, he still resolved to come and fight the Hebrews, supposing he would be too strong for them and wanting to test their courage. But he was disappointed in his hope: he was killed in the battle himself, and his whole army was destroyed. So Moses crossed the river Jabbok and overran the kingdom of Og. He overthrew their cities and killed all their inhabitants, who were richer than all the people of that part of the mainland, because of the goodness of the soil and the great quantity of their wealth. Og had very few equals, either in the size of his body or in the handsomeness of his looks. He was also a man of great strength and skill with his hands, so that his deeds matched the enormous size and handsome appearance of his body. People could easily judge his strength and size when they captured his bed at Rabbah, the royal city of the Ammonites: it was made of iron, six feet wide and thirteen and a half feet long. His fall not only improved the Hebrews' situation for the present, but by his death he became the cause of further success for them; for they soon took the sixty cities that had been subject to him, all surrounded by excellent walls, and everyone, both all together and each for himself, took great plunder. [c]