The same thing happens in the Israelite conquest of King Og’s territory that happened in the conquest of Sihon’s kingdom (2.32-36). Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje has “So the LORD, our God, enabled us to defeat King Og and all his army.”

We smote him until no survivor was left to him: “We kept on fighting him until all of his men had been killed,” or “We kept on … until we had killed him and all his soldiers.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

This verse, describing the complete conquest of Og’s territory, is like 2.34.

All his cities … not a city which we did not take from them: we should notice the switch of pronouns, from his [cities] to [from] them. The second clause is repetitive, and in many languages it will be more natural style to combine both clauses and translate, for example, “We captured [or, conquered] all his towns.” City is really “town” (so Good News Translation, and Contemporary English Version; also see 1.4).

Argob is identified as Og’s domain in the territory of Bashan (1 Kgs 4.13).

It is possible to reorder the clauses of this verse as follows:

• About that time we conquered the whole region of Argob in the territory of Bashan where King Og ruled. We captured all his towns. There were sixty of them.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

All these were cities: for the sixty fortified towns, see 2.36.

The Hebrew word translated gates appears in its dual form, which explains New Revised Standard Version “double gates,” and the footnote in New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh “double-leaf doors.” This is quite possible, because the metal bars (usually bronze) were normally laid across the inside of a pair of double gates to keep them from being pushed open by enemies. Most translations, though, have simply “gates.” The phrase gates and bars means “gates with bars,” “barred gates” (Revised English Bible), and may be also rendered as “gates with metal bars across them on the inside,” or even “double gates locked with bars.”

Many unwalled villages: these were small farming villages not big enough or wealthy enough to have walls or strong fences around them. In case of war the villagers would go to the nearest fortified town. The Hebrew word translated unwalled villages appears in the Septuagint as a proper name, “the Perizzites,” which is what New Jerusalem Bible has. Other translations have “villages without walls” or the like; Revised English Bible has “open settlements.” This Handbook prefers the Hebrew text.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• They had protected these towns with high walls [or, fences] and double gates locked with bronze bars. There were also many villages with no walls [or, fences].

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

This verse summarizes the two campaigns against Sihon and Og.

The Amorites is the general term used of the inhabitants of the land. See 1.27.

Beyond the Jordan: that is, on the east side of the river, the other side from the point of view of the writer in Israel.

The valley of the Arnon: see 2.24.

Mount Hermon: at the northern end of the land, near the Syrian border.

Contemporary English Version has a helpful model for this verse:

• Sihon and Og had ruled Amorite kingdoms east of the Jordan River. Their land stretched from the Arnon gorge in the south to Mount Hermon in the north, and we captured it all.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

This verse is, so to speak, a footnote, added to the text by someone other than the original writer. It explains that Hermon was also called Sirion and Senir.

A translation should end verse 8 with a full stop, and have verse 9 in parentheses, as a complete sentence (see Good News Translation). Verse 10 will then begin a new complete sentence. Revised Standard Version and New Revised Standard Version do not do this and so make it very difficult for public reading.

Sidonians: people of Sidon, a Phoenician city on the Mediterranean coast, north of Israel.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

This verse is a summary of all the territory east of the Jordan that had been conquered by the Israelites.

The tableland is the southern plateau, going from Gilead, in the north, to the boundary of Moab at the Arnon River. Another way to express tableland, or “plateau,” is “high, flat land.” Gilead was the central area of east Jordan, divided into two by the Jabbok River (see map, page xii).

Salecah and Edrei (see 1.4) appear as two towns more or less in the same region. Both seem to have been at the southern boundary of the land (Josh 13.11-12).

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Here is another footnote: a note about the iron (or, stone) bedstead (or, coffin) of King Og.

King Og is said to have been the last survivor of the Rephaim (see 2.11), the legendary race of giants. We may also render this as “King Og was the last of the people called Rephaim.”

The Hebrew word translated bedstead by Revised Standard Version and others is taken to mean “coffin,” as Good News Translation has it, or more precisely “sarcophagus,” a stone burial container (so Bible en français courant and Revised English Bible). And the word understood to mean iron (Revised Standard Version) is thought to mean “black basalt,” the material out of which the sarcophagus was carved. The Septuagint translates “iron bed,” and this is how most translations have it. Some commentators think that a sarcophagus is meant, but it is impossible to know for sure. In many cultures “sarcophagus” will be an unknown term, so it is recommended that the equivalent of “[stone] coffin” be used. However, in cultures where other forms of burial are used, we may say something like “They buried him in a large stone container that was six feet wide and….”

Rabbah, the capital of ancient Ammon, is now Amman, the capital of Jordan.

A standard cubit (common cubit) was more or less forty-five centimeters (eighteen inches) in length. Nine cubits would be approximately four meters, or almost fourteen feet; and four cubits converts into one meter and eighty centimeters (1.8 meters), or six feet. Most translations give approximate round figures. Good News Translation omits the information about “cubits” and says “according to standard measurements.” Another way to express this is “according to what they considered the correct measurement.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .