37. Because the Lord loved your ancestors, he chose you, their descendants, and he brought you out of Egypt himself by his great strength.
38. He forced nations out of their land ahead of you, nations that were bigger and stronger than you were. The Lord did this so he could bring you into their land and give it to you as your own, and this land is yours today.
39. Know and believe today that the Lord is God. He is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other god!
40. Obey his laws and commands that I am giving you today so that things will go well for you and your children. Then you will live a long time in the land that the Lord your God is giving to you forever.
41. Moses chose three cities east of the Jordan River,
42. where a person who accidentally killed someone could go. If the person was not killed because of hatred, the murderer’s life could be saved by running to one of these cities.
43. These were the cities: Bezer in the desert high plain was for the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead was for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan was for the Manassites.
44. These are the teachings Moses gave to the people of Israel.
45. They are the rules, commands, and laws he gave them when they came out of Egypt.
46. They were in the valley near Beth Peor, east of the Jordan River, in the land of Sihon. Sihon king of the Amorites ruled in Heshbon and was defeated by Moses and the Israelites as they came out of Egypt.
47. The Israelites took his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River.
48. This land went from Aroer, on the edge of the Arnon Ravine, to Mount Hermon.
49. It included all the Jordan Valley east of the Jordan River, and it went as far as the Dead Sea below Mount Pisgah.