Bible Strands
Numbers 21:33
Then they turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og king of Bashan and his whole army came out to meet them in battle at Edrei.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records Israel’s military maneuver after taking Jazer, turning north toward Bashan. Og, king of Bashan, mobilizes his entire army to intercept them at Edrei.
The words — The Hebrew verbs וַיִּפְנוּ (va-yippû) and וַיַּעֲל֔וּ (va-yaʿălû) denote a coordinated turn and ascent toward Bashan. The verb וַיֵּצֵא (va-yēṣēʾ) records Og’s army exiting to engage Israel in combat.
The thread — This confrontation echoes later recollections of Og’s defeat at Edrei in Deuteronomy 1:4 and 29:7, and his kingdom’s geographic footprint is mapped in Joshua 13:12.
Why it lands — The text states the physical mobilization of both armies at a specific location before any divine intervention is mentioned. It requires the reader to acknowledge the concrete historical threat that precedes the command not to fear found in Numbers 21:34.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he, and all his people, to the battle at Edrei.
Cross-references
- Joshua 13:12 the whole kingdom of Og in Bashan, who had reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei and had remained as a remnant of the Rephaim. Moses had struck them down and dispossessed them,
- Deuteronomy 1:4 This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and then at Edrei had defeated Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth.
- Deuteronomy 29:7 When you reached this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us in battle, but we defeated them.
- Deuteronomy 3:1 Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og king of Bashan and his whole army came out to meet us in battle at Edrei.
- Numbers 32:33 So Moses gave to the Gadites, to the Reubenites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan—the land including its cities and the territory surrounding them.
- Deuteronomy 4:47 They took possession of the land belonging to Sihon and to Og king of Bashan—the two Amorite kings across the Jordan to the east—
- Deuteronomy 32:14 with curds from the herd and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs, with rams from Bashan, and goats, with the choicest grains of wheat. From the juice of the finest grapes you drank the wine.
- Joshua 9:10 and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan—Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth.
- Joshua 12:4 And Og king of Bashan, one of the remnant of the Rephaim, who lived in Ashtaroth and Edrei.
- Joshua 13:30 The territory from Mahanaim through all Bashan—all the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, including all the towns of Jair that are in Bashan, sixty cities;