These are the commandments and the judgments, which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses unto the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan
These ... commandments ... in the plains of Moab. The Israelite encampment was on an extensive plateau north of the Arnon, and which, though wrested from the Moabites by Sihon and Og, still retained the name of its original possessors. The particular site, as indicated by the words, "Jordan near Jericho," is now called El-Koura-a large plain lying not far from Nebo, between the Arnon and a small tributary stream, the Waleh (Burckhardt). It was a desert plain on the eastern bank, and marked only by groves of the wild thorny acacia tree.