37. The Lord loved your ancestors and decided that you would be his people. So the Lord used his great power to bring you out of Egypt.
38. Now you face other nations more powerful than you are, but the Lord has already started forcing them out of their land and giving it to you.
39. So remember that the Lord is the only true God, whether in the sky above or on the earth below.
40. Today I am explaining his laws and teachings. And if you always obey them, you and your descendants will live long and be successful in the land the Lord is giving you.
41-43. Moses said, “People of Israel, you must set aside the following three towns east of the River Jordan as Safe Towns: Bezer in the desert highlands belonging to the Reuben tribe; Ramoth in Gilead, belonging to the Gad tribe; and Golan in Bashan, belonging to the Manasseh tribe. If you kill a neighbour without meaning to, and if you had not been angry with that person, you can run to one of these towns and find safety.”
44-46. The Israelites had come from Egypt and were camped east of the River Jordan near Beth-Peor, when Moses gave these laws and teachings. The land around their camp had once belonged to King Sihon of Heshbon. But Moses and the Israelites defeated him
47. and King Og of Bashan, and took their lands. These two Amorite kings had ruled the territory east of the River Jordan
48. from the town of Aroer on the edge of the gorge of the River Arnon, north to Mount Hermon.
49. Their land included the eastern side of the Jordan valley, as far south as the Dead Sea below the slopes of Mount Pisgah.