Hebrew word · H5747
עוֹג
og
Og
Og is a proper name of uncertain meaning. Bashan (always 'the Bashan' with the article) is the high, fertile basalt plateau north of the Yarmuk River, east of Galilee, known for cattle, oaks and fortified towns (Deut 3:4–5 says sixty walled cities).
Appears 22 times in 22 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
A man of Bashan living at the time of Egypt and Wilderness, first mentioned at Num.21.33
§ Og = "long-necked"
the Amorite king of Bashan and one of the last representatives of the giants of Rephaim
Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
- Range of meaning
Og is a proper name of uncertain meaning. Bashan (always 'the Bashan' with the article) is the high, fertile basalt plateau north of the Yarmuk River, east of Galilee, known for cattle, oaks and fortified towns (Deut 3:4–5 says sixty walled cities).
- Against the English
Translations agree. What they cannot show is what the name meant to an Israelite: Og was 'the last of the remnant of the Rephaim' (Deut 3:11), whose famous iron (or basalt) bed was nine cubits long. For Israel he stood for the giant-world that had made the spies afraid (Num 13:33).
- Used elsewhere in the period
Deut 3:1–11; Josh 12:4 ('Og king of Bashan, of the remnant of the Rephaim, who dwelt in Ashtaroth and in Edrei'); Josh 13:12. Outside the Bible, a Ugaritic text from about the 13th century BC (KTU 1.108) speaks of a figure Rapiʾu, connected to the Rephaim, 'who dwells in ʿAṯtarot, who rules in Hadrʿay', which seem to be the same two towns, Ashtaroth and Edrei. A Phoenician inscription from Byblos may also mention an ʿg, but that reading is debated.
Where it appears
Numbers · 2
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Numbers 21:33 עוֹג֩ Og
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.
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Numbers 32:33 ע֖וֹג Og
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.
Here: King of Bashan, defeated at Edrei (Num 21:33–35). Deuteronomy remembers him as the last of the giant-like Rephaim (Deut 3:11).
Deuteronomy · 10
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Deuteronomy 1:4 ע֚וֹג Og
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.
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Deuteronomy 3:1 עוֹג֩ Og
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.
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Deuteronomy 3:3 ע֥וֹג Og
So the LORD our God also delivered Og king of Bashan and his whole army into our hands. We struck them down until no survivor was left.
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Deuteronomy 3:4 ע֖וֹג Og
At that time we captured all sixty of his cities. There was not a single city we failed to take—the entire region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
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Deuteronomy 3:10 ע֖וֹג Og
all the cities of the plateau, all of Gilead, and all of Bashan as far as the cities of Salecah and Edrei in the kingdom of Og.
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Deuteronomy 3:11 ע֞וֹג Og
(For only Og king of Bashan had remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. His bed of iron, nine cubits long and four cubits wide, is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)
Here: Personal name of the Amorite king of Bashan. Israel remembered him in songs and lists of victories for centuries (Num 21:33–35; Ps 135:11; 136:20; Neh 9:22).
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Deuteronomy 3:13 ע֔וֹג Og
To the half-tribe of Manasseh I gave the rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og. (The entire region of Argob, the whole territory of Bashan, used to be called the land of the Rephaim.)
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Deuteronomy 4:47 ע֣וֹג Og
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—
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Deuteronomy 29:7 וְע֨וֹג and Og
When you reached this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us in battle, but we defeated them.
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Deuteronomy 31:4 וּלְע֛וֹג and to Og
And the LORD will do to them as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, when He destroyed them along with their land.
Joshua · 6
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Joshua 2:10 וּלְע֔וֹג and to Og
For we have heard how the LORD dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites across the Jordan, whom you devoted to destruction.
Here: "And to Og": king of Bashan in the north of Transjordan, remembered as the last of the giant Rephaim, with a famous iron bed (Num 21:33–35; Deut 3:1–11). His defeat showed that even legendary giants fell.
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Joshua 9:10 וּלְע֥וֹג and to Og
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.
Here: 'And to Og'. He was the northern Transjordanian king, remembered as the last of the Rephaim, a legendary race of giants (Deut 3:11). Israel defeated him at Edrei (Num 21:33–35).
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Joshua 12:4 ע֚וֹג Og
And Og king of Bashan, one of the remnant of the Rephaim, who lived in Ashtaroth and Edrei.
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Joshua 13:12 עוֹג֙ Og
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,
Here: The king of Bashan whom Israel defeated at Edrei (Num 21:33–35; Deut 3:1–11). He was remembered as the last of an ancient, legendary people.
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Joshua 13:30 ע֣וֹג Og
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;
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Joshua 13:31 ע֖וֹג Og
half of Gilead; and Ashtaroth and Edrei, the royal cities of Og in Bashan. All this was for the clans of the descendants of Machir son of Manasseh, that is, half of the descendants of Machir.
Here: The Amorite king of Bashan whose defeat stood with Sihon's as Israel's classic victories east of the Jordan. Joshua 12:4 calls him a survivor of the Rephaim.
1 Kings · 1
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1 Kings 4:19 וְעֹג֙ and Og
Geber son of Uri in the land of Gilead, including the territories of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan. There was also one governor in the land of Judah.
Nehemiah · 1
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Nehemiah 9:22 ע֥וֹג Og
You gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner of the land. So they took the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and of Og king of Bashan.
Here: King of Bashan, remembered as the last of the Rephaim, a race of giants, with an iron bed nine cubits long (Deuteronomy 3:11). He was defeated at Edrei (Numbers 21:33–35).
Psalms · 2
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Psalm 135:11 וּ֭לְעוֹג and to Og
Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the kings of Canaan.
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Psalm 136:20 וּ֭לְעוֹג and to Og
and Og king of Bashan—His loving devotion endures forever.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.