1
When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel
was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked the Israelites and
captured some of them.
2
Then Israel made this vow to the LORD: "If you will deliver these people into
our hands, we will totally destroy their cities."
3
The LORD listened to Israel's plea and gave the Canaanites over to them.
They complretely destroyed them and their towns; so the place was named
Hormah.
4
They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go arouns Edom.
But the people grew impatient on the way;
5
they spoke against God and against Moses, and said,
"Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert?
There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!"
6
Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among theml they bit the people
and many Israelites died.
7
The people came to Moses and said,
"We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you.
Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us."
So Moses prayed for the people.
8
The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone
who is bitten can look at it and live."
9
So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone
was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.
10
The Israelites moved on and camped at Obloth.
11
Then they set out from Obloth and camped in Iye Abarin, in the desert that
faces Moab toward the sunrise.
12
From there they moved on and camped in the Zered Valley.
13
They set out from there and camped alongside the Arnon,
which is in the desert extending into Amorite territory.
The Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab andthe Amorites.
14
That is why the Book of the Wars of the LORD says:"... Waheb in Suphah and
the ravines, the Arnon
15
and the slopes of the ravines that lead to the site of Ar and
lie along the border of Moab,"
16
From there they continued on to Beer, the well where the LORD said to Moses,
"Gather the people together and I will give them water."
17
Then Israel sang this song: "Spring up, O well! Sing about it,
18
about the well that the princes dug, that the nobles of the people sank -
the nobles with scepters and staffs." Then they went from the desert to Mattanah,
19
from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth,
20
and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah
overlooks the wasteland.
21
Israel sent messengers to say to Sihon king of the Amorites:
22
"Let us pass through your country. We will not turn aside into any field or
vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the king's highway
until we have passed through your territory."
23
But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory.
He mustered his entire army and marched out into the desert against Israel.
When he reached Jahaz, he fought with Israel.
24
Israel, however, put him to the sword and took over his land from
the Arnon to the Jabbok, but only as far as the Ammonites,
because their border was fortified.
25
Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them,
including Heshbon and all its surrounding settlements.
26
Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought
against the former king of Moab and had taken from him
all his land as far as the Arnon.
27
That is why the poets say: "Come to Heshbon and let it be rebuilt;
let Sihon's city be restored.
28
"Fire went out from Heshbon, a blaze form the city of Sihon.
It consumed Ar of Moab, the citizens of Arnon's heights.
29
Woe to you, O Moab! You are destroyed O people of Chemosh!
He has given up his sons as fugitives and his daughters as captives to
Sihon king of the Amorites.
30
"But we have overthrown them; Heshbon is destroyed all the way to Dibon.
We have demolished them as far as Nophah, which extends to Medeba."
31
So Israel settled in theland of the Amorites.
32
After Moses had sent spies to Jazer, the Israelites captured its surrounding
settlements and rove out the Amorites who were there.
33
Then they turned and went up along the road toward Bashan,
and Og king of Bashan and his whole army marched out to meet them
in battle at Edrei.
34
The LORD said to Moses, "Do not be afraid of him, for I have handed him
over to you, with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to
Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon."
35
So they struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army,
leaving them no survivors. And they took possession of his land.
