Deuteronomy 1 2 3a 3b 4 5 6 7a 7b 8 9 10 11a 11b 12 13 14 15 16a 16b 17 18 19 20 21a 21b 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29a 29b 30 31 32 33 34
3:1 VA NEPHEN VA NA'AL DERECH HA BASHAN VA YETSE OG MELECH HA BASHAN LIKRATEYNU HU VE CHOL AMO LA MILCHAMAH EDRE'I
3:1 VA NEPHEN VA NA'AL DERECH HA BASHAN VA YETSE OG MELECH HA BASHAN LIKRATEYNU HU VE CHOL AMO LA MILCHAMAH EDRE'I
וַנֵּפֶן וַנַּעַל דֶּרֶךְ הַבָּשָׁן וַיֵּצֵא עוֹג מֶלֶךְהַבָּשָׁן לִקְרָאתֵנוּ הוּא וְכָל עַמּוֹ לַמִּלְחָמָה אֶדְרֶעִי
KJ (King James translation): Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.
BN: (BibleNet translation): Then we turned, and went up towards Bashan; and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, and waged battle with us at Edre'i.
BASHAN, OG, EDRE'I: See Numbers 21:32 ff.
3:2 VA YOMER YHVH ELAI AL TIRA OTO KI VE YADCHA NATATI OTO VE ET KOL AMO VE ET ARTSO VE ASITA LO KA ASHER ASITA LE SICHON MELECH HA EMORI ASHER YOSHEV BE CHESHBON
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֵלַי אַל תִּירָא אֹתוֹ כִּי בְיָדְךָ נָתַתִּי אֹתוֹ וְאֶת כָּל עַמּוֹ וְאֶת אַרְצוֹ וְעָשִׂיתָ לּוֹ כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשִׂיתָ לְסִיחֹן מֶלֶךְ הָאֱמֹרִי אֲשֶׁר יוֹשֵׁב בְּחֶשְׁבּוֹן
BN: Then YHVH said to me: Do not fear him; for I have delivered him, and all his people, and his land, into your hand; and you shall do to him as you did to Sichon king of the Emori, who dwelt at Cheshbon.
See Numbers 21:21 ff.
3:3 VA YITEN YHVH ELOHEYNU BE YADEYNU GAM ET OG MELECH HA BASHAN VE ET KOL AMO VA NAKEYHU AD BILTI HISHIR LO SARID
BN: So YHVH our god delivered Og, the king of Bashan, into our hand as well, and all his people; and we smote him until not one of him was left standing.
We think of Yehoshu'a as the man who conquered Kena'an, and of Mosheh as the man of peace; but this account of his last two years is one of brutal and interminable war, obliterating entire peoples on the southern and eastern borders of Kena'an in order to make the entry into Kena'an possible. Interesting for a study-group to draw comparisons between Mosheh and Muhammad, both of whom started out as peace-loving moral crusaders for the widows and orphans and the liberation of all Humankind - both of whom ended up as war criminals.
3:4 VA NILKOD ET KOL ARAV BA ET HA HI LO HAYETAH KIRYAH ASHER LO LAKACHNU MEY ITAM SHISHIM IR KOL CHEVEL ARGOV MAMLECHET OG BA BASHAN
KJ: And we took all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not from them, threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
BN: And we took all of his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities, the entire region of Argov, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
ARGOV: Not mentioned in the Numbers version.
3:5 KOL ELEH ARIM BETSUROT CHOMAH GEVOHAH DELATIM U VERIYACH LEVAD MEY AREY HA PERAZI HARBEH ME'OD
KJ: All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many.
BN: All these were fortified cities, with high walls, gates, and bars; and a great many unwalled towns besides.
HA PERAZI: This word poses a problem, because it could be read as HA PERIZI, which is also the name of a people - see the link. But even if it is PERAZI, we are uncertain of its meaning: some suggest "rural", others "unfortified" - click here.
3:6 VA NACHAREM OTAM KA ASHER ASINU LE SICHON MELECH CHESHBON HACHAREM KOL IR METIM HA NASHIM VE HA TAPH
KJ: And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city.
BN: And we utterly destroyed them, as we did Sichon king of Cheshbon, utterly destroying every city, the men, and the women, and the little ones.
Why such delight in massacre. Even the women and the children! And from these holy texts comes the history of humanity for the next several thousand years!
3:7 VE CHOL HA BEHEMAH U SHELAL HE ARIM BAZONU LANU
KJ: But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves.
BN: But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took as booty for ourselves.
And the delight in stealing too. Mind you, Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh are two of our national heroes here in Britain, and they did little to merit it but capture Spanish galleons, kill the crew, plunder the treasure. And then there is the history of the building of the British Empire...
3:8 VA NIKACH BA ET HA HI ET HA ARETS MI YAD SHNEY MALCHEY HA EMORI ASHER BE EVER HA YARDEN MI NACHAL ARNON AD HAR CHERMON
KJ: (Which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion; and the Amorites call it Shenir;)
BN: Which Chermon the Tsidonim call Sirion, and the Emorites call it Senir.
TSIDONIM: See the link.
3:3 VA YITEN YHVH ELOHEYNU BE YADEYNU GAM ET OG MELECH HA BASHAN VE ET KOL AMO VA NAKEYHU AD BILTI HISHIR LO SARID
וַיִּתֵּן יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ בְּיָדֵנוּ גַּם אֶת עוֹג מֶלֶךְהַבָּשָׁן וְאֶת כָּל עַמּוֹ וַנַּכֵּהוּ עַד בִּלְתִּי הִשְׁאִיר לוֹ שָׂרִיד
KJ: So the LORD our God delivered into our hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we smote him until none was left to him remaining.
BN: So YHVH our god delivered Og, the king of Bashan, into our hand as well, and all his people; and we smote him until not one of him was left standing.
We think of Yehoshu'a as the man who conquered Kena'an, and of Mosheh as the man of peace; but this account of his last two years is one of brutal and interminable war, obliterating entire peoples on the southern and eastern borders of Kena'an in order to make the entry into Kena'an possible. Interesting for a study-group to draw comparisons between Mosheh and Muhammad, both of whom started out as peace-loving moral crusaders for the widows and orphans and the liberation of all Humankind - both of whom ended up as war criminals.
3:4 VA NILKOD ET KOL ARAV BA ET HA HI LO HAYETAH KIRYAH ASHER LO LAKACHNU MEY ITAM SHISHIM IR KOL CHEVEL ARGOV MAMLECHET OG BA BASHAN
וַנִּלְכֹּד אֶת כָּל עָרָיו בָּעֵת הַהִוא לֹא הָיְתָה קִרְיָה אֲשֶׁר לֹא לָקַחְנוּ מֵאִתָּם שִׁשִּׁים עִיר כָּל חֶבֶל אַרְגֹּב מַמְלֶכֶת עוֹג בַּבָּשָׁן
KJ: And we took all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not from them, threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
BN: And we took all of his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities, the entire region of Argov, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
ARGOV: Not mentioned in the Numbers version.
3:5 KOL ELEH ARIM BETSUROT CHOMAH GEVOHAH DELATIM U VERIYACH LEVAD MEY AREY HA PERAZI HARBEH ME'OD
כָּל אֵלֶּה עָרִים בְּצֻרֹת חוֹמָה גְבֹהָה דְּלָתַיִם וּבְרִיחַ לְבַד מֵעָרֵי הַפְּרָזִי הַרְבֵּה מְאֹד
BN: All these were fortified cities, with high walls, gates, and bars; and a great many unwalled towns besides.
HA PERAZI: This word poses a problem, because it could be read as HA PERIZI, which is also the name of a people - see the link. But even if it is PERAZI, we are uncertain of its meaning: some suggest "rural", others "unfortified" - click here.
3:6 VA NACHAREM OTAM KA ASHER ASINU LE SICHON MELECH CHESHBON HACHAREM KOL IR METIM HA NASHIM VE HA TAPH
וַנַּחֲרֵם אוֹתָם כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשִׂינוּ לְסִיחֹן מֶלֶךְ חֶשְׁבּוֹן הַחֲרֵם כָּל עִיר מְתִם הַנָּשִׁים וְהַטָּף
KJ: And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city.
BN: And we utterly destroyed them, as we did Sichon king of Cheshbon, utterly destroying every city, the men, and the women, and the little ones.
Why such delight in massacre. Even the women and the children! And from these holy texts comes the history of humanity for the next several thousand years!
3:7 VE CHOL HA BEHEMAH U SHELAL HE ARIM BAZONU LANU
וְכָל הַבְּהֵמָה וּשְׁלַל הֶעָרִים בַּזּוֹנוּ לָנוּ
KJ: But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves.
BN: But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took as booty for ourselves.
And the delight in stealing too. Mind you, Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh are two of our national heroes here in Britain, and they did little to merit it but capture Spanish galleons, kill the crew, plunder the treasure. And then there is the history of the building of the British Empire...
3:8 VA NIKACH BA ET HA HI ET HA ARETS MI YAD SHNEY MALCHEY HA EMORI ASHER BE EVER HA YARDEN MI NACHAL ARNON AD HAR CHERMON
וַנִּקַּח בָּעֵת הַהִוא אֶת הָאָרֶץ מִיַּד שְׁנֵי מַלְכֵי הָאֱמֹרִי אֲשֶׁר בְּעֵבֶר הַיַּרְדֵּן מִנַּחַל אַרְנֹן עַד הַר חֶרְמוֹן
KJ: And we took at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites the land that was on this side Jordan, from the river of Arnon unto mount Hermon;
BN: And at that time we took the land from the hands of the two kings of the Emori who lived beyond the Yarden, from the valley of Arnon to Mount Chermon.
CHERMON: No mention of this at all in the Numbers version - and actually, in that version, they turned back south at this point, and took on Midyan, and never went that far north again. So there is a disparity, and once again the disparity endorses my view that Mosheh and Yehoshu'a are the same man, their stories told by different groups of Beney Yisra-El, their names simply dialect variations in the way that we have Jeffrey and Geoffrey in English, and both Guy and Bill derive from William (Guillaume in the Norman) - and even they, in their doubleness, are simply a way of Judaising the war of Ach-Mousa against the Hyksos: for he did indeed drive the Hyksos out by this route, and left them to their straggling onwards pecisely when they reached Mount Chermon.
3:9 TSIDONIM YIKRE'U LE CHERMON SIRION VE HA EMORI YIKRE'U LO SENIR
BN: And at that time we took the land from the hands of the two kings of the Emori who lived beyond the Yarden, from the valley of Arnon to Mount Chermon.
CHERMON: No mention of this at all in the Numbers version - and actually, in that version, they turned back south at this point, and took on Midyan, and never went that far north again. So there is a disparity, and once again the disparity endorses my view that Mosheh and Yehoshu'a are the same man, their stories told by different groups of Beney Yisra-El, their names simply dialect variations in the way that we have Jeffrey and Geoffrey in English, and both Guy and Bill derive from William (Guillaume in the Norman) - and even they, in their doubleness, are simply a way of Judaising the war of Ach-Mousa against the Hyksos: for he did indeed drive the Hyksos out by this route, and left them to their straggling onwards pecisely when they reached Mount Chermon.
3:9 TSIDONIM YIKRE'U LE CHERMON SIRION VE HA EMORI YIKRE'U LO SENIR
צִידֹנִים יִקְרְאוּ לְחֶרְמוֹן שִׂרְיֹן וְהָאֱמֹרִי יִקְרְאוּ לוֹ שְׂנִיר
KJ: (Which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion; and the Amorites call it Shenir;)
BN: Which Chermon the Tsidonim call Sirion, and the Emorites call it Senir.
TSIDONIM: See the link.
SIRION: comes up in the liturgy, in Havu l'YHVH, Psalm 29:6 - "He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox.…"; but nowhere else in the Tanach.
3:10 KOL AREY HA MISHOR VE CHOL HA GIL'AD VE CHOL HA BASHAN AD SALCHAH VE EDRE'I AREY MAMLECHET OG BA BASHAN
KJ: All the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salchah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
BN: All the cities of the plain, and all Gil'ad, and all Bashan, as far as Salchah and Edre'i, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
GIL'AD: See verse 1 and the links there.
SALCHAH: Nor previously mentioned - see the link.
3:10 KOL AREY HA MISHOR VE CHOL HA GIL'AD VE CHOL HA BASHAN AD SALCHAH VE EDRE'I AREY MAMLECHET OG BA BASHAN
כֹּל עָרֵי הַמִּישֹׁר וְכָל הַגִּלְעָד וְכָל הַבָּשָׁן עַד סַלְכָה וְאֶדְרֶעִי עָרֵי מַמְלֶכֶת עוֹג בַּבָּשָׁן
BN: All the cities of the plain, and all Gil'ad, and all Bashan, as far as Salchah and Edre'i, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
GIL'AD: See verse 1 and the links there.
SALCHAH: Nor previously mentioned - see the link.
3:11 KI RAK OG MELECH HA BASHAN NISHAR MI YETER HA REPHA'IM HINEH ARSO ERES BARZEL HA LO HI BE RABAT BENEY AMMON TESHA AMOT ARKAH VE ARBA AMOT RACHBAH BE AMAT ISH
KJ: For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.
BN: For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Repha'im; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabah of the Beney Amon? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its breadth, after the cubit of a man.
RABAH: Is this perhaps the line that caused people to assume they were giants (see my notes and questions at Deuteronomy 2:11 ff)?
BENEY AMON: See the link.
כִּי רַק עוֹג מֶלֶךְ הַבָּשָׁן נִשְׁאַר מִיֶּתֶר הָרְפָאִים הִנֵּה עַרְשׂוֹ עֶרֶשׂ בַּרְזֶל הֲלֹה הִוא בְּרַבַּת בְּנֵי עַמּוֹן תֵּשַׁע אַמּוֹת אָרְכָּהּ וְאַרְבַּע אַמּוֹת רָחְבָּהּ בְּאַמַּת אִישׁ
KJ: For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.
BN: For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Repha'im; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabah of the Beney Amon? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its breadth, after the cubit of a man.
RABAH: Is this perhaps the line that caused people to assume they were giants (see my notes and questions at Deuteronomy 2:11 ff)?
BENEY AMON: See the link.
AMOT: See the link - but also wonder for a moment if there isn't some kind of a pun going on here, even perhaps a satirical pun: from Amon to Amot.
3:12 VE ET HA ARETS HA ZOT YARASHNU BA ET HA HI MEY ARO'ER ASHER AL NACHAL ARNON VA CHATSI HAR HA GIL'AD VE ARAV NATATI LA RE'U-VEN VE LA GADI
3:12 VE ET HA ARETS HA ZOT YARASHNU BA ET HA HI MEY ARO'ER ASHER AL NACHAL ARNON VA CHATSI HAR HA GIL'AD VE ARAV NATATI LA RE'U-VEN VE LA GADI
וְאֶת הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת יָרַשְׁנוּ בָּעֵת הַהִוא מֵעֲרֹעֵר אֲשֶׁר עַלנַחַל אַרְנֹן וַחֲצִי הַר הַגִּלְעָד וְעָרָיו נָתַתִּי לָראוּבֵנִי וְלַגָּדִי
BN: And this land we took for a possession at that time; from Aro'er, which is by the valley of Arnon, and half the hill-country of Gil'ad, and its cities, I gave to Re'u-Ven and to Gad.
NATATI: "I gave". The despotic rather than the divine "I" on this occasion.
3:13 VA YETER HA GIL'AD VE CHOL HA BASHAN MAMLECHET OG NATATI LA CHATSI SHEVEY HA MENASHEH KOL CHEVEL HA ARGOV LE CHOL HA BASHAN HA HU YIKAR'E ERETS REPHA'IM
KJ: And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants.
BN: And the rest of Gil'ad, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Menasheh; all the region of Argov - all that part of Bashan is called the land of the Repha'im.
NATATI: Again "I gave". Emphasis on the I. What happened to "YHVH gave"? Or, given that it required an army, "we gave"?
3:14 YA'IR BEN MENASHEH LAKACH ET KOL CHEVEL ARGOV AD GEVUL HA GESHURI VE HA MA'ACHATI VA YIKRA OTAM AL SHEMO ET HA BASHAN CHAVOT YA'IR AD HA YOM HA ZEH
KJ: Jair the son of Manasseh took all the country of Argob unto the coasts of Geshuri and Maachathi; and called them after his own name, Bashanhavothjair, unto this day.
BN: Ya'ir ben Menasheh took all the region of Argov, as far as the border of the Geshuri and the Ma'achati, and called them, keeping the name Bashan, but after his own name, Chavot Ya'ir, which is still their name today.
YA'IR BEN MENASHEH: If he really is Ya'ir ben Menasheh, and Mosheh means Menasheh ben Yoseph, then out 40-year time-scale becomes problematic, because Menasheh was already grown up in Yoseph's time, long before Mosheh, long before... so it cannot mean that, and Menasheh must be in use here as a tribal patronymic... and if that is the case here, might it also be the case on other occasions? Which is even more problematic than the time-scale! Several other translators have noted the same issue, and translated "ben" as "descendant", rather than "son" - click here.
GESHURI: See the link.
MA'ACHATI: The name appears to be connected with MA'ACHAH, the sister of Nachor, thus placing the people in Padan Aram, much further to the north-east. See also Joshua 13:11.
CHAVOT YA'IR: The name appears to come from the root CHAYAH, which is "life", and which yields the bame CHAVAH, who in English is Eve. Would CHAVOT then infer matriarchal tribes? Or is it simply a way of saying "the people who live here", which in the case of nomads is neither a ham nor a hamlet, a village nor a town; certainly this is the understanding of CHAVAH in the Arabic - see Gesenius' explanation of this here - the link is to the site; I can't get you directly to the page, which is 264. Look under Chet-Vav-Hey (חוה).
AD HA YOM HA ZEH: "until today" is a phrase that suggests a long period of time, whereas, for Mosheh, it was less than a year. So, again, we have clear evidence of a much later text.
3:15 U LE MACHIR NATATI ET HA GIL'AD
KJ: And I gave Gilead unto Machir.
BN: And I gave Gil'ad to Machir.
Once again the egocentric I.
MACHIR: Unlike Ya'ir in the previous verse, we have encountered a Machir ben Menasheh before, in Genesis 50:13 as precisely that, the son of Menasheh, grandson of Yoseph; and again in Numbers 26:29, where his tribe is described as being ancestored by that Machir. So we can indeed read the name here as a descendant, and cease to fret about the apparent time-discrepancy.
3:16 VE LA RE'U-VENI VE LA GADI NATATI MIN HA GIL'AD VE AD NACHAL ARNON TOCH HA NACHAL U GEVUL VE AD YABOK HA NACHAL GEVUL BENEY AMON
KJ: And unto the Reubenites and unto the Gadites I gave from Gilead even unto the river Arnon half the valley, and the border even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon;
BN: And to the Re'u-Veni and to the Gadi I gave from Gil'ad right up to the valley of Arnon, with the middle of the valley for a border; right up to the river Yabok, which is the border of the Beney Amon.
YABOK: Elsewhere in Torah this river is always YAVOK, but here, and in the previous chapter, it was definitely YABOK, at least, according to the Masoretic pointing. Did the pronunciation of the name change over time, and this then another indication for the dating of the text? (In Shakespeare's time, and previously, the river Avon on which Stratford stands was known as the river Arfen).
3:17 VE HA ARAVAH VE HA YARDEN U GEVUL MI KINERET VE AD YAM HA ARAVAH YAM HA MELACH TACHAT ASHDOT HA PISGAH MIZRACHAH
KJ: The plain also, and Jordan, and the coast thereof, from Chinnereth even unto the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, under Ashdothpisgah eastward.
BN: The Aravah also, the Yarden being its border, from Kineret as far as the sea of the Aravah, the Salt Sea, under Ashdot ha Pisgah eastwards.
So should we refer to the Dead Sea, not as Yam ha Melach, which is just an added descriptor, but as Yam Ha Aravah?
KINERET: See the link.
ASHDOT HA PISGAH does seem to suggest that Pisgah was the name of the mountain, which is entirely possible, but still very odd, given the meaning of Pisgah: Mount Summit. ASHDOT are "slopes", so this could either be a descriptor or a place name. If there were a village on the road or track leading up the slopes to the summit, it might very well be named Hillcrest, or Christon (Currickeston in Olde Aenglish, "the peak of the hill"), or in this case Mountainslope.
3:18 VA ATSAV ET'CHEM BA ET HA HI LEMOR YHVH ELOHEYCHEM NATAN LACHEM ET HA ARETS HA ZOT LE RISHTAH CHALUTSIM TA'AVRU LIPHNEY ACHEYCHEM BENEY YISRA-EL KOL BENEY CHAYIL
KJ:And I commanded you at that time, saying, The LORD your God hath given you this land to possess it: ye shall pass over armed before your brethren the children of Israel, all that are meet for the war.
BN: And I instructed you at that time, saying: YHVH your god has given you this land for a possession; every man of military age shall cross over armed at the head of your kinsmen, the Beney Yisra-El.
Which makes it sound like he is addressing a very specific group of his people, and not the whole people - is there anything earlier to suggest who? Here it is clearly a pep-talk for the military.
3:19 RAK NESHEYCHEM VE TAP'CHEM U MIKNEYCHEM YADATI KI MIKNEH RAV LACHEM YESHVU BE AREYCHEM ASHER NATATI LACHEM
KJ: But your wives, and your little ones, and your cattle, (for I know that ye have much cattle,) shall abide in your cities which I have given you;
BN: But your wives, and your little ones, and your cattle - I know that you have a lot of cattle - shall live in your cities which I have given you.
3:20 AD ASHER YANI'ACH YHVH LA ACHEYCHEM KACHEM VE YARSHU GAM HEM ET HA ARETS ASHER YHVH ELOHEYCHEM NOTEN LAHEM BE EVER HA YARDEN VE SHAVTEM ISH LIYRUSHATO ASHER NATATI LACHEM
KJ: Until the LORD have given rest unto your brethren, as well as unto you, and until they also possess the land which the LORD your God hath given them beyond Jordan: and then shall ye return every man unto his possession, which I have given you.
BN: Until YHVH gives rest to your kinsmen, as to you, and they also possess the land which YHVH your god gives them beyond the Yarden; then shall every man return to his possession which I have given you.
Again, but which group? It sounds like he's refering to the verses immediately above, and to the deal struck with the two and a half tribes for their inheritance.
3:21 VE ET YEHOSHU'A TSIVEYTI BA ET HA HI LEMOR EYNEYCHA HAROT ET KOL ASHER ASAH YHVH ELOHEYCHEM LI SHENEY HA MELACHIM HA ELEH KEN YA'ASEH YHVH LE CHOL HA MAMLACHOT ASHER ATAH OVER SHAMAH
KJ: And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, Thine eyes have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto these two kings: so shall the LORD do unto all the kingdoms whither thou passest.
BN: And I instructed Yehoshu'a at that time, saying: Your eyes have seen all that YHVH your god has done to these two kings; so shall YHVH do to all the kingdoms to which you are going.
3:22 LO TIRA'UM KI YHVH ELOHEYCHEM HU HA NILCHAM LACHEM
KJ: Ye shall not fear them: for the LORD your God he shall fight for you.
BN: Do not fear them; for YHVH your god, he it is who will be fighting for you.
samech break
וְיֶתֶר הַגִּלְעָד וְכָל הַבָּשָׁן מַמְלֶכֶת עוֹג נָתַתִּי לַחֲצִי שֵׁבֶט הַמְנַשֶּׁה כֹּל חֶבֶל הָאַרְגֹּב לְכָל הַבָּשָׁן הַהוּא יִקָּרֵא אֶרֶץ רְפָאִים
BN: And the rest of Gil'ad, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Menasheh; all the region of Argov - all that part of Bashan is called the land of the Repha'im.
NATATI: Again "I gave". Emphasis on the I. What happened to "YHVH gave"? Or, given that it required an army, "we gave"?
3:14 YA'IR BEN MENASHEH LAKACH ET KOL CHEVEL ARGOV AD GEVUL HA GESHURI VE HA MA'ACHATI VA YIKRA OTAM AL SHEMO ET HA BASHAN CHAVOT YA'IR AD HA YOM HA ZEH
יָאִיר בֶּן מְנַשֶּׁה לָקַח אֶת כָּל חֶבֶל אַרְגֹּב עַד גְּבוּל הַגְּשׁוּרִי וְהַמַּעֲכָתִי וַיִּקְרָא אֹתָם עַל שְׁמוֹ אֶת הַבָּשָׁן חַוֹּת יָאִיר עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה
KJ: Jair the son of Manasseh took all the country of Argob unto the coasts of Geshuri and Maachathi; and called them after his own name, Bashanhavothjair, unto this day.
BN: Ya'ir ben Menasheh took all the region of Argov, as far as the border of the Geshuri and the Ma'achati, and called them, keeping the name Bashan, but after his own name, Chavot Ya'ir, which is still their name today.
YA'IR BEN MENASHEH: If he really is Ya'ir ben Menasheh, and Mosheh means Menasheh ben Yoseph, then out 40-year time-scale becomes problematic, because Menasheh was already grown up in Yoseph's time, long before Mosheh, long before... so it cannot mean that, and Menasheh must be in use here as a tribal patronymic... and if that is the case here, might it also be the case on other occasions? Which is even more problematic than the time-scale! Several other translators have noted the same issue, and translated "ben" as "descendant", rather than "son" - click here.
GESHURI: See the link.
MA'ACHATI: The name appears to be connected with MA'ACHAH, the sister of Nachor, thus placing the people in Padan Aram, much further to the north-east. See also Joshua 13:11.
CHAVOT YA'IR: The name appears to come from the root CHAYAH, which is "life", and which yields the bame CHAVAH, who in English is Eve. Would CHAVOT then infer matriarchal tribes? Or is it simply a way of saying "the people who live here", which in the case of nomads is neither a ham nor a hamlet, a village nor a town; certainly this is the understanding of CHAVAH in the Arabic - see Gesenius' explanation of this here - the link is to the site; I can't get you directly to the page, which is 264. Look under Chet-Vav-Hey (חוה).
AD HA YOM HA ZEH: "until today" is a phrase that suggests a long period of time, whereas, for Mosheh, it was less than a year. So, again, we have clear evidence of a much later text.
3:15 U LE MACHIR NATATI ET HA GIL'AD
וּלְמָכִיר נָתַתִּי אֶתהַגִּלְעָד
BN: And I gave Gil'ad to Machir.
Once again the egocentric I.
MACHIR: Unlike Ya'ir in the previous verse, we have encountered a Machir ben Menasheh before, in Genesis 50:13 as precisely that, the son of Menasheh, grandson of Yoseph; and again in Numbers 26:29, where his tribe is described as being ancestored by that Machir. So we can indeed read the name here as a descendant, and cease to fret about the apparent time-discrepancy.
3:16 VE LA RE'U-VENI VE LA GADI NATATI MIN HA GIL'AD VE AD NACHAL ARNON TOCH HA NACHAL U GEVUL VE AD YABOK HA NACHAL GEVUL BENEY AMON
וְלָראוּבֵנִי וְלַגָּדִי נָתַתִּי מִן הַגִּלְעָד וְעַד נַחַל אַרְנֹן תּוֹךְ הַנַּחַל וּגְבֻל וְעַד יַבֹּק הַנַּחַל גְּבוּל בְּנֵי עַמּוֹן
BN: And to the Re'u-Veni and to the Gadi I gave from Gil'ad right up to the valley of Arnon, with the middle of the valley for a border; right up to the river Yabok, which is the border of the Beney Amon.
YABOK: Elsewhere in Torah this river is always YAVOK, but here, and in the previous chapter, it was definitely YABOK, at least, according to the Masoretic pointing. Did the pronunciation of the name change over time, and this then another indication for the dating of the text? (In Shakespeare's time, and previously, the river Avon on which Stratford stands was known as the river Arfen).
3:17 VE HA ARAVAH VE HA YARDEN U GEVUL MI KINERET VE AD YAM HA ARAVAH YAM HA MELACH TACHAT ASHDOT HA PISGAH MIZRACHAH
וְהָעֲרָבָה וְהַיַּרְדֵּן וּגְבֻל מִכִּנֶּרֶת וְעַד יָם הָעֲרָבָה יָם הַמֶּלַח תַּחַת אַשְׁדֹּת הַפִּסְגָּה מִזְרָחָה
KJ: The plain also, and Jordan, and the coast thereof, from Chinnereth even unto the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, under Ashdothpisgah eastward.
BN: The Aravah also, the Yarden being its border, from Kineret as far as the sea of the Aravah, the Salt Sea, under Ashdot ha Pisgah eastwards.
So should we refer to the Dead Sea, not as Yam ha Melach, which is just an added descriptor, but as Yam Ha Aravah?
KINERET: See the link.
ASHDOT HA PISGAH does seem to suggest that Pisgah was the name of the mountain, which is entirely possible, but still very odd, given the meaning of Pisgah: Mount Summit. ASHDOT are "slopes", so this could either be a descriptor or a place name. If there were a village on the road or track leading up the slopes to the summit, it might very well be named Hillcrest, or Christon (Currickeston in Olde Aenglish, "the peak of the hill"), or in this case Mountainslope.
3:18 VA ATSAV ET'CHEM BA ET HA HI LEMOR YHVH ELOHEYCHEM NATAN LACHEM ET HA ARETS HA ZOT LE RISHTAH CHALUTSIM TA'AVRU LIPHNEY ACHEYCHEM BENEY YISRA-EL KOL BENEY CHAYIL
וָאֲצַו אֶתְכֶם בָּעֵת הַהִוא לֵאמֹר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם נָתַן לָכֶם אֶת הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת לְרִשְׁתָּהּ חֲלוּצִים תַּעַבְרוּ לִפְנֵי אֲחֵיכֶם בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל כָּל בְּנֵי חָיִל
KJ:And I commanded you at that time, saying, The LORD your God hath given you this land to possess it: ye shall pass over armed before your brethren the children of Israel, all that are meet for the war.
BN: And I instructed you at that time, saying: YHVH your god has given you this land for a possession; every man of military age shall cross over armed at the head of your kinsmen, the Beney Yisra-El.
Which makes it sound like he is addressing a very specific group of his people, and not the whole people - is there anything earlier to suggest who? Here it is clearly a pep-talk for the military.
3:19 RAK NESHEYCHEM VE TAP'CHEM U MIKNEYCHEM YADATI KI MIKNEH RAV LACHEM YESHVU BE AREYCHEM ASHER NATATI LACHEM
רַק נְשֵׁיכֶם וְטַפְּכֶם וּמִקְנֵכֶם יָדַעְתִּי כִּי מִקְנֶה רַב לָכֶם יֵשְׁבוּ בְּעָרֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי לָכֶם
BN: But your wives, and your little ones, and your cattle - I know that you have a lot of cattle - shall live in your cities which I have given you.
3:20 AD ASHER YANI'ACH YHVH LA ACHEYCHEM KACHEM VE YARSHU GAM HEM ET HA ARETS ASHER YHVH ELOHEYCHEM NOTEN LAHEM BE EVER HA YARDEN VE SHAVTEM ISH LIYRUSHATO ASHER NATATI LACHEM
עַד אֲשֶׁר יָנִיחַ יְהוָה לַאֲחֵיכֶם כָּכֶם וְיָרְשׁוּ גַם הֵם אֶת הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם נֹתֵן לָהֶם בְּעֵבֶר הַיַּרְדֵּן וְשַׁבְתֶּם אִישׁ לִירֻשָּׁתוֹ אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי לָכֶם
BN: Until YHVH gives rest to your kinsmen, as to you, and they also possess the land which YHVH your god gives them beyond the Yarden; then shall every man return to his possession which I have given you.
Again, but which group? It sounds like he's refering to the verses immediately above, and to the deal struck with the two and a half tribes for their inheritance.
3:21 VE ET YEHOSHU'A TSIVEYTI BA ET HA HI LEMOR EYNEYCHA HAROT ET KOL ASHER ASAH YHVH ELOHEYCHEM LI SHENEY HA MELACHIM HA ELEH KEN YA'ASEH YHVH LE CHOL HA MAMLACHOT ASHER ATAH OVER SHAMAH
וְאֶת יְהוֹשׁוּעַ צִוֵּיתִי בָּעֵת הַהִוא לֵאמֹר עֵינֶיךָ הָרֹאֹת אֵת כָּל אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם לִשְׁנֵי הַמְּלָכִים הָאֵלֶּה כֵּן יַעֲשֶׂה יְהוָה לְכָל הַמַּמְלָכוֹת אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה עֹבֵר שָׁמָּה
BN: And I instructed Yehoshu'a at that time, saying: Your eyes have seen all that YHVH your god has done to these two kings; so shall YHVH do to all the kingdoms to which you are going.
3:22 LO TIRA'UM KI YHVH ELOHEYCHEM HU HA NILCHAM LACHEM
לֹא תִּירָאוּם כִּי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם הוּא הַנִּלְחָם לָכֶם
BN: Do not fear them; for YHVH your god, he it is who will be fighting for you.
samech break
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