Deuteronomy 2:37
New International Version
But in accordance with the command of the LORD our God, you did not encroach on any of the land of the Ammonites, neither the land along the course of the Jabbok nor that around the towns in the hills.

New Living Translation
However, we avoided the land of the Ammonites all along the Jabbok River and the towns in the hill country—all the places the LORD our God had commanded us to leave alone.

English Standard Version
Only to the land of the sons of Ammon you did not draw near, that is, to all the banks of the river Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, whatever the LORD our God had forbidden us.

Berean Standard Bible
But you did not go near the land of the Ammonites, or the land along the banks of the Jabbok River, or the cities of the hill country, or any place that the LORD our God had forbidden.

King James Bible
Only unto the land of the children of Ammon thou camest not, nor unto any place of the river Jabbok, nor unto the cities in the mountains, nor unto whatsoever the LORD our God forbad us.

New King James Version
Only you did not go near the land of the people of Ammon—anywhere along the River Jabbok, or to the cities of the mountains, or wherever the LORD our God had forbidden us.

New American Standard Bible
Only you did not go near the land of the sons of Ammon, all along the river Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, and wherever the LORD our God had commanded us to avoid.

NASB 1995
“Only you did not go near to the land of the sons of Ammon, all along the river Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, and wherever the LORD our God had commanded us.

NASB 1977
“Only you did not go near to the land of the sons of Ammon, all along the river Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, and wherever the LORD our God had commanded us.

Legacy Standard Bible
Only you did not go near to the land of the sons of Ammon, all along the river Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, and wherever Yahweh our God had commanded us.

Amplified Bible
Only you did not go near the land of the sons of Ammon, all along the river Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, and wherever the LORD our God had forbidden us.

Christian Standard Bible
But you did not go near the Ammonites’ land, all along the bank of the Jabbok River, the cities of the hill country, or any place that the LORD our God had forbidden.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
But you did not go near the Ammonites’ land, all along the bank of the Jabbok River, the cities of the hill country, or any place that the LORD our God had forbidden.”

American Standard Version
only to the land of the children of Ammon thou camest not near; all the side of the river Jabbok, and the cities of the hill-country, and wheresoever Jehovah our God forbade us.

Contemporary English Version
However, we stayed away from all the Ammonite towns, both in the hill country and near the Jabbok River, just as the LORD had commanded.

English Revised Version
only to the land of the children of Ammon thou camest not near; all the side of the river Jabbok, and the cities of the hill country, and wheresoever the LORD our God forbade us.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
But the LORD our God had forbidden you to go anywhere near the land of the Ammonites. So you didn't enter the land along the bank of the Jabbok River or capture the cities in the mountains.

Good News Translation
But we did not go near the territory of the Ammonites or to the banks of the Jabbok River or to the towns of the hill country or to any other place where the LORD our God had commanded us not to go.

International Standard Version
You did not encroach onto Ammonite land, the banks of the Wadi Jabbok, the towns in the hill country, and all the other places that were forbidden by the LORD our God."

Majority Standard Bible
But you did not go near the land of the Ammonites, or the land along the banks of the Jabbok River, or the cities of the hill country, or any place that the LORD our God had forbidden.

NET Bible
However, you did not approach the land of the Ammonites, the Wadi Jabbok, the cities of the hill country, or any place else forbidden by the LORD our God.

New Heart English Bible
only to the land of the people of Ammon you did not come near; all the side of the river Jabbok, and the cities of the hill country, and wherever the LORD our God forbade us.

Webster's Bible Translation
Only to the land of the children of Ammon thou camest not, nor to any place of the river Jabbok, nor to the cities on the mountains, nor to whatever the LORD our God forbad us.

World English Bible
Only to the land of the children of Ammon you didn’t come near: all the banks of the river Jabbok, and the cities of the hill country, and wherever Yahweh our God forbade us.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
Only, you have not drawn near to the land of the sons of Ammon—any part of the Brook of Jabbok, and cities of the hill-country, and anything which our God YHWH has [not] commanded.”

Young's Literal Translation
Only, unto the land of the sons of Ammon thou hast not drawn near, any part of the brook Jabbok, and cities of the hill-country, and anything which Jehovah our God hath not commanded.

Smith's Literal Translation
Only to the land of the sons of Ammon thou camest not near, all the land of the torrent Jabbok and the cities of the mountain: all which Jehovah our God commanded us.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Except the land of the children of Ammon, to which we approached not: and all that border upon the torrent Jeboc, and the cities in the mountains, and all the places which the Lord our God forbade us.

Catholic Public Domain Version
except the land of the sons of Ammon, which we did not approach, and all that is adjacent to the torrent Jabbok, and the cities in the mountains, and all the places which the Lord our God prohibited to us.”

New American Bible
However, just as the LORD, our God, commanded us, you did not encroach upon any of the Ammonite land, neither the region bordering on the Wadi Jabbok, nor the cities of the highlands.

New Revised Standard Version
You did not encroach, however, on the land of the Ammonites, avoiding the whole upper region of the Wadi Jabbok as well as the towns of the hill country, just as the LORD our God had charged.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
Only to the land of the children of Ammon we did not draw near, nor to all that is by the river Jabbok, nor to the cities that are in the mountains, nor to whatever the LORD our God forbade us.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
Only we have not approached the land of the children of Amon, everything beside the Torrent of Yabaq and villages of the mountains and all that LORD JEHOVAH our God commanded us.’”
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
Only to the land of the children of Ammon thou camest not near; all the side of the river Jabbok, and the cities of the hill-country, and wheresoever the LORD our God forbade us.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Only we did not draw near to the children of Amman, even all the parts bordering on the brook Jaboc, and the cities in the mountain country, as the Lord our God charged us.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
King Sihon Defeated
36From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the valley, even as far as Gilead, not one city had walls too high for us. The LORD our God gave us all of them. 37But you did not go near the land of the Ammonites, or the land along the banks of the Jabbok River, or the cities of the hill country, or any place that the LORD our God had forbidden.

Cross References
Joshua 13:9-12
The area from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the middle of the valley, the whole plateau of Medeba as far as Dibon, / and all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites who reigned in Heshbon, as far as the border of the Ammonites; / also Gilead and the territory of the Geshurites and Maacathites, all of Mount Hermon, and all Bashan as far as Salecah— ...

Numbers 21:24-26
And Israel put him to the sword and took possession of his land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok—but only up to the border of the Ammonites, because it was fortified. / Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its villages. / Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land as far as the Arnon.

Judges 11:22
seizing all the land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.

2 Kings 10:33
from the Jordan eastward through all the land of Gilead (the region of Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh), and from Aroer by the Arnon Valley through Gilead to Bashan.

Joshua 12:1-3
Now these are the kings of the land whom the Israelites struck down and whose lands they took beyond the Jordan to the east, from the Arnon Valley to Mount Hermon, including all the Arabah eastward: / Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. He ruled from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along the middle of the valley, up to the Jabbok River (the border of the Ammonites), that is, half of Gilead, / as well as the Arabah east of the Sea of Chinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea), eastward through Beth-jeshimoth, and southward below the slopes of Pisgah.

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.

Joshua 13:15-21
This is what Moses had given to the clans of the tribe of Reuben: / The territory from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the middle of the valley, to the whole plateau beyond Medeba, / to Heshbon and all its cities on the plateau, including Dibon, Bamoth-baal, Beth-baal-meon, ...

1 Chronicles 5:9
They also settled in the east as far as the edge of the desert that extends to the Euphrates River, because their livestock had increased in the land of Gilead.

Isaiah 16:8-9
For the fields of Heshbon have withered, along with the grapevines of Sibmah. The rulers of the nations have trampled its choicest vines, which had reached as far as Jazer and spread toward the desert. Their shoots had spread out and passed over the sea. / So I weep with Jazer for the vines of Sibmah; I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears. Triumphant shouts have fallen silent over your summer fruit and your harvest.

Jeremiah 48:18-24
Come down from your glory; sit on parched ground, O daughter dwelling in Dibon, for the destroyer of Moab has come against you; he has destroyed your fortresses. / Stand by the road and watch, O dweller of Aroer! Ask the man fleeing or the woman escaping, ‘What has happened?’ / Moab is put to shame, for it has been shattered. Wail and cry out! Declare by the Arnon that Moab is destroyed. ...

Acts 7:45
And our fathers who received it brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations God drove out before them. It remained until the time of David,

Hebrews 11:30-31
By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days. / By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies in peace, did not perish with those who were disobedient.

Romans 15:4
For everything that was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope.

1 Corinthians 10:11
Now these things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.

Acts 13:19
And having vanquished seven nations in Canaan, He gave their land to His people as an inheritance.


Treasury of Scripture

Only to the land of the children of Ammon you came not, nor to any place of the river Jabbok, nor to the cities in the mountains, nor to whatever the LORD our God forbade us.

unto the land

Deuteronomy 2:5,9,19
Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession…

Deuteronomy 3:16
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;

Judges 11:15
And said unto him, Thus saith Jephthah, Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon:

Jabbok

Genesis 32:22
And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok.

Numbers 21:24
And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon: for the border of the children of Ammon was strong.

Joshua 12:2
Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and ruled from Aroer, which is upon the bank of the river Arnon, and from the middle of the river, and from half Gilead, even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon;

Jump to Previous
Accordance Ammon Ammonites Banks Camest Children Cities Command Commanded Country Draw Encroach Hill Hill-Country Jabbok Mountains River Side Whatever Whatsoever Wherever
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Accordance Ammon Ammonites Banks Camest Children Cities Command Commanded Country Draw Encroach Hill Hill-Country Jabbok Mountains River Side Whatever Whatsoever Wherever
Deuteronomy 2
1. The story is continued, that they were not to meddle with the Edomites
9. nor with the Moabites
16. nor with the Ammonites
24. but Sihon the Amorite was subdued by them














But you did not go near
This phrase emphasizes obedience to God's command. The Israelites, under Moses' leadership, respected the boundaries set by God. The Hebrew root for "go near" is "qarab," which often implies approaching with intent or purpose. This highlights the Israelites' conscious decision to adhere to divine instructions, demonstrating their reverence and trust in God's plan.

the land of the Ammonites
The Ammonites were descendants of Lot, Abraham's nephew, and thus had a familial connection to the Israelites. Historically, the Ammonites occupied a region east of the Jordan River. God's command to avoid conflict with them underscores His respect for the territorial rights of nations He had not given to Israel. This reflects a divine order and justice, recognizing the sovereignty of other peoples.

all along the banks of the Jabbok River
The Jabbok River, known today as the Zarqa River, was a significant geographical landmark. It served as a natural boundary. The mention of the Jabbok River situates the narrative in a real, historical context, reminding readers of the tangible reality of the Israelites' journey. It also symbolizes the boundaries God sets in our lives, which are meant for our protection and guidance.

or the towns of the hill country
The hill country refers to the elevated regions that were often strategically important and difficult to conquer. In ancient times, these areas were fortified and held significant military and economic value. God's instruction to avoid these towns indicates His strategic planning for Israel, ensuring they did not engage in unnecessary battles that could detract from their ultimate goal of reaching the Promised Land.

or any place the LORD our God had forbidden
This phrase encapsulates the central theme of obedience to divine command. The Hebrew word for "forbidden" is "tsavah," which means to command or charge. It underscores the authority of God over the Israelites and their journey. The emphasis on divine prohibition serves as a reminder of the importance of heeding God's word, trusting that His commands are for our ultimate good and aligned with His sovereign will.

Verse 37. - In obedience to the Divine injunction, the Israelites left untouched the country of the Ammonites, situated on the eastern side of the Upper Jabbok. Cities in the mountains; the towns in the Ammonitish highlands. In Joshua 13:25, half of the laud of the Ammonites is said to be assigned to the tribe of Gad; but that refers to the part of the land between the Arnon and the Jabbek, which had been taken from the Ammonites by the Amorites, and was in the possession of the latter at the time of the Israelitish invasion (Judges 11:13, etc.). Whatsoever the Lord our God forbad us: Finally, all that Jehovah our God commanded not to come into.



Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
But
רַ֛ק (raq)
Adverb
Strong's 7535: But, even, except, howbeit howsoever, at the least, nevertheless

you did not
לֹ֣א (lō)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

go near
קָרָ֑בְתָּ (qā·rā·ḇə·tā)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 7126: To come near, approach

the land
אֶ֥רֶץ (’e·reṣ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 776: Earth, land

of the Ammonites,
בְּנֵי־ (bə·nê-)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 1121: A son

or [the land]
כָּל־ (kāl-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

along the banks
יַ֞ד (yaḏ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 3027: A hand

of the Jabbok
יַבֹּק֙ (yab·bōq)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 2999: Jabbok -- a river East of the Jordan

River,
נַ֤חַל (na·ḥal)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 5158: A stream, a winter torrent, a, valley, a shaft

or the cities
וְעָרֵ֣י (wə·‘ā·rê)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine plural construct
Strong's 5892: Excitement

of the hill country,
הָהָ֔ר (hā·hār)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2022: Mountain, hill, hill country

or any
וְכֹ֥ל (wə·ḵōl)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

place that
אֲשֶׁר־ (’ă·šer-)
Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

the LORD
יְהוָ֥ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

our God
אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ׃ (’ĕ·lō·hê·nū)
Noun - masculine plural construct | first person common plural
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

had forbidden.
צִוָּ֖ה (ṣiw·wāh)
Verb - Piel - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 6680: To lay charge (upon), give charge (to), command, order


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OT Law: Deuteronomy 2:37 Only to the land of the children (Deut. De Du)
Deuteronomy 2:36
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