Numbers 21
1 When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked Israel and captured some prisoners.
And it came to the ears of the Canaanite, the king of Arad, living in the South, that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, and he came out against them and took some of them prisoners.
2 So Israel made a vow to the LORD: “If You will deliver this people into our hands, we will devote their cities to destruction.”
Then Israel made an oath to the Lord, and said, If you will give up this people into my hands, then I will send complete destruction on all their towns.
3 And the LORD heard Israel’s plea and delivered up the Canaanites. Israel devoted them and their cities to destruction; so they named the place Hormah.
And the Lord, in answer to the voice of Israel, gave the Canaanites up to them; and they put them and their towns completely to destruction: and that place was named Hormah.
4 Then they set out from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, in order to bypass the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient on the journey
Then they went on from Mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, going round the land of Edom: and the spirit of the people was overcome with weariness on the way.
5 and spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you led us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!”
And crying out against God and against Moses, they said, Why have you taken us out of Egypt to come to our death in the waste land? For there is no bread and no water, and this poor bread is disgusting to us.
6 So the LORD sent venomous snakes among the people, and many of the Israelites were bitten and died.
Then the Lord sent poison-snakes among the people; and their bites were a cause of death to numbers of the people of Israel.
7 Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Intercede with the LORD so He will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses interceded for the people.
Then the people came to Moses and said, We have done wrong in crying out against the Lord and against you: make prayer to the Lord to take away the snakes from us. So Moses made prayer for the people.
8 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will live.”
And the Lord said to Moses, Make an image of a snake and put it on a rod, and anyone who has been wounded by the snakes, looking on it will be made well.
9 So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. If anyone who was bitten looked at the bronze snake, he would live.
So Moses made a snake of brass and put it on a rod; and anyone who had a snakebite, after looking on the snake of brass, was made well.
10 Then the Israelites set out and camped at Oboth.
Then the children of Israel went on and put up their tents in Oboth.
11 They journeyed from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim in the wilderness opposite Moab to the east.
And journeying on again from Oboth, they put up their tents in Iye-abarim, in the waste land before Moab looking east.
12 From there they set out and camped in the Valley of Zered.
And moving on from there, they put up their tents in the valley of Zered.
13 From there they moved on and camped on the other side of the Arnon, in the wilderness that extends into the Amorite territory. Now the Arnon is the border between the Moabites and the Amorites.
From there they went on and put up their tents on the other side of the Arnon, which is on the waste land at the edge of the land of the Amorites; for the Arnon is the line of division between Moab and the Amorites:
14 Therefore it is stated in the Book of the Wars of the LORD: “Waheb in Suphah and the wadis of the Arnon,
As it says in the book of the Wars of the Lord, Vaheb in Suphah, and the valley of the Amon;
15 even the slopes of the wadis that extend to the site of Ar and lie along the border of Moab.”
The slope of the valleys going down to the tents of Ar and touching the edge of Moab.
16 From there they went on to Beer, the well where the LORD said to Moses, “Gather the people so that I may give them water.”
From there they went on to Beer, the water-spring of which the Lord said to Moses, Make the people come together and I will give them water.
17 Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well, all of you sing to it!
Then Israel gave voice to this song: Come up, O water-spring, let us make a song to it:
18 The princes dug the well; the nobles of the people hollowed it out with their scepters and with their staffs.” From the wilderness the Israelites went on to Mattanah,
The fountain made by the chiefs, made deep by the great ones of the people, with the law-givers' rod, and with their sticks. Then from the waste land they went on to Mattanah:
19 and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,
And from Mattanah to Nahaliel: and from Nahaliel to Bamoth:
20 and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.
And from Bamoth to the valley in the open country of Moab, and to the top of Pisgah looking over Jeshimon.
21 Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,
And Israel sent men to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying,
22 “Let us pass through your land. We will not cut through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will stay on the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”
Let me go through your land: we will not go into field or vine-garden, or take the water of the springs; we will go by the highway till we have gone past the limits of your land.
23 But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. Instead, he gathered his whole army and went out to confront Israel in the wilderness. When he came to Jahaz, he fought against Israel.
And Sihon would not let Israel go through his land; but got all his people together and went out against Israel into the waste land, as far as Jahaz, to make war on Israel.
24 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.
But Israel overcame him, and took all his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the country of the children of Ammon, for the country of the children of Ammon was strongly armed.
25 Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its villages.
And Israel took all their towns, living in Heshbon and all the towns and small places of the Amorites.
26 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.
For Heshbon was the town of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who had made war against an earlier king of Moab and taken from him all his land as far as the Arnon.
27 That is why the poets say: “Come to Heshbon, let it be rebuilt; let the city of Sihon be restored.
So the makers of wise sayings say, Come to Heshbon, building up the town of Sihon and making it strong:
28 For a fire went out from Heshbon, a blaze from the city of Sihon. It consumed Ar of Moab, the rulers of Arnon’s heights.
For a fire has gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the town of Sihon: for the destruction of Ar in Moab, and the lords of the high places of the Arnon.
29 Woe to you, O Moab! You are destroyed, O people of Chemosh! He gave up his sons as refugees, and his daughters into captivity to Sihon king of the Amorites.
Sorrow is yours, O Moab! Destruction is your fate, O people of Chemosh: his sons have gone in flight, and his daughters are prisoners, in the hands of Sihon, king of the Amorites.
30 But we have overthrown them; Heshbon is destroyed as far as Dibon. We demolished them as far as Nophah, which reaches to Medeba.”
They are wounded with our arrows; destruction has come on Heshbon, even to Dibon; and we have made the land waste as far as Nophah, stretching out to Medeba.
31 So Israel lived in the land of the Amorites.
So Israel put up their tents in the land of the Amorites.
32 After Moses had sent spies to Jazer, Israel captured its villages and drove out the Amorites who were there.
And Moses sent men secretly to Jazer, and they took its towns, driving out the Amorites who were living there.
33 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.
Then turning they went up by the way of Bashan; and Og, king of Bashan, went out against them with all his people, to the fight at Edrei.
34 But the LORD said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have delivered him into your hand, along with all his people and his land. Do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.”
And the Lord said to Moses, Have no fear of him: for I have given him up into your hands, with all his people and his land; do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, at Heshbon.
35 So they struck down Og, along with his sons and his whole army, until no remnant was left. And they took possession of his land.
So they overcame him and his sons and his people, driving them all out: and they took his land for their heritage.
