Numbers 21

1

When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev,

heard that Israel was coming aling 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 completely 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 around 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 them; 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 Oboth.

11

Then they set out from Oboth and camped in Iye Abarim,

in the desert that 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 and the

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 Barmoth,

20

and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of

Pisgah overlooks the waste land.

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 from 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 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 the land of the Amorites.

32

After Moses sent spies to Jazer, the Israelites captured

its surrounding settlements and drove 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.