Numbers 21
1 The king of Arad [city] lived in the area where the Canaan people-group lived, in the desert in the southern part of the land. He heard a report that the Israelis were approaching on the road to Atharim [village]. So his army attacked the Israelis and captured some of them.
And the Canaanite king of Arad, who dwelt in the south, heard that Israel came by the way of Atharim, and he fought against Israel, and took some of them prisoners.
2 Then the Israelis solemnly vowed: “Yahweh, if you will help us to defeat these people, we will completely destroy all their towns.”
Then Israel vowed a vow to Jehovah, and said, If thou give this people wholly into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.
3 Yahweh heard what they requested, and he enabled them to defeat the army of the Canaan people-group. The Israeli soldiers killed all the people and destroyed their towns. [Ever since that time], that place has been called Hormah [which means ‘destruction’].
And Jehovah listened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them, and their cities. And they called the name of the place Hormah.
4 Then the Israelis left Hor Mountain and traveled on the road towards the Red Sea, in order to go around [the land of] Edom. But the people became impatient along the way,
And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to go round the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became impatient on the way;
5 and they began to grumble/complain against God and against Moses/me. They said, “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in this desert [RHQ]? There is nothing to eat here, and nothing to drink. And we detest this lousy [manna] food!”
and the people spoke against God, and against Moses, Why have ye brought us up out of Egypt that we should die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, and no water, and our soul loathes this light bread.
6 So Yahweh sent poisonous snakes among them. Many of the people were bitten by the snakes and died.
Then Jehovah sent fiery serpents among the people, which bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
7 Then the people came to Moses/me and cried out, saying, “We [now know that we] have sinned against Yahweh and against you. Pray to Yahweh, asking that he will take away the snakes!” So Moses/I prayed for the people.
And the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned, in that we have spoken against Jehovah, and against thee: pray to Jehovah that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
8 Then Yahweh told him/me, “Make a model/image of a poisonous snake, and attach it to the top of a pole. If those who are bitten by the snakes look at that model, they will (recover/get well).”
And Jehovah said to Moses, Make thee a fiery [serpent], and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, and looketh upon it, shall live.
9 So Moses/I made a snake from bronze and attached it to the top of a pole. Then, when those who had been bitten by a snake looked at the bronze snake, they recovered!
And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole; and it came to pass, if a serpent had bitten any man, and he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
10 Then the Israelis traveled to Oboth and (camped/set up their tents) there.
And the children of Israel journeyed, and encamped in Oboth.
11 Then they left there, and went to Iye-Abarim, in the desert on the eastern border of Moab.
And they removed from Oboth, and encamped at Ijim-Abarim, in the wilderness that is before Moab, toward the sun-rising.
12 From there they traveled to the valley where the Zered riverbed is, and camped there.
From thence they removed, and encamped at the torrent Zered.
13 Then they traveled to the north side of the Arnon [River]. That area is in the desert next to the land where the Amor people-group lived. The Arnon [River] is the boundary between Moab and where the Amor people-group lived.
From thence they removed, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that comes out of the border of the Amorites. For the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.
14 That is why in the book called ‘The Book of the Wars of Yahweh’ it tells about “Waheb [town] in the Suphah area, and the ravines there; and the Arnon [River]
Therefore it is said in the book of the wars of Jehovah, Vaheb in Suphah, and the brooks of Arnon;
15 and the ravines there, which extend as far as Ar [village] on the border of Moab.”
And the stream of the brooks which turneth to the dwelling of Ar, And inclineth toward the border of Moab.
16 From there, the Israelis traveled to Beer. There was a well there, where Yahweh previously had said to Moses/me, “Gather the people together, and I will give them water.”
And from thence to Beer: that is the well of which Jehovah spoke to Moses, Assemble the people, and I will give them water.
17 There the Israelis sang this song: “O well, give us water! Sing about this well!
Then Israel sang this song, Rise up, well! sing unto it:
18 Sing about this well which our leaders dug; they dug out [the dirt] with their royal scepters and their walking sticks.” Then the Israelis left that desert and went through Mattanah,
Well which princes digged, which the nobles of the people hollowed out at [the word of] the lawgiver, with their staves. And from the wilderness [they went] to Mattanah;
19 Nahaliel, and Bamoth [villages].
and from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth;
20 Then they went to the valley in Moab where Pisgah [Mountain] rises above the desert.
and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the fields of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looks over the surface of the waste.
21 Then the Israelis sent messengers to Sihon, the king of the Amor people-group. This was the message [that they/we gave him]:
And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,
22 “Allow us to travel through your country. We will stay on the king’s highway, [the main road that goes from the south to the north], until we have finished traveling through your land. We will not walk through any field or vineyard, or drink water from your wells.”
Let us pass through thy land; we will not turn into the fields, or into the vineyards; we will not drink water out of the wells; on the king's road will we go until we have passed thy border.
23 But King Sihon refused. He would not allow them to walk through his land. Instead, he sent his whole army to attack the Israelis in the desert. They attacked the Israelis at Jahaz [village].
But Sihon would not suffer Israel to go through his border; and Sihon gathered all his people, and went out against Israel into the wilderness, and came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel.
24 But the Israelis completely defeated them and occupied their land, from the Arnon [River in the south] to the Jabbok [River in the north]. They stopped at the border of the land where the Ammon people-group lived, because [the Ammon army was defending] the border strongly.
And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon; for the border of the children of Ammon was strong.
25 So the Israelis occupied all the cities and towns where the Amor people-group lived, and some of the Israelis began to live in them. They occupied Heshbon [city] and the nearby villages.
And Israel took all these cities, and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, at Heshbon, and in all its dependent villages.
26 Heshbon was the capital of the country. It was the city where King Sihon ruled. His army had previously defeated the army of the king of Moab, and then his people had begun to live in all of the land of Moab as far as the Arnon [River in the south].
For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites; and he had fought against the former king of Moab, and had taken all his land out of his hand, even unto the Arnon.
27 For that reason, one of the poets wrote long ago, “Come to Heshbon, the city where King Sihon [ruled]. We want the city to be restored/rebuilt.
Therefore the poets say, Come to Heshbon; let the city of Sihon be built and established.
28 A fire blazed from Heshbon; it burned down Ar [city] in Moab, it destroyed [everything on] the hills along the Arnon [River].
For there went forth fire from Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon; It consumed Ar of Moab, the lords of the high places of the Arnon.
29 You people of Moab, terrible things have happened to you! You people who [worship your god] Chemosh have been (annihilated/wiped out)! The men who [worshiped] [MET] Chemosh have run away and are now refugees, and the women [who worshiped him] have been captured by [the army of] Sihon, the king of the Amor people-group.
Woe to thee, Moab! thou art undone, people of Chemosh: He gave his sons that had escaped, and his daughters into captivity to Sihon the king of the Amorites.
30 But we have defeated [Sihon and] those descendants of Amor, all the way from Heshbon [in the north] to Dibon [city in the south]. We have completely obliterated/destroyed them as far as Nophah and Medeba [towns].”
And we have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon; and we have laid [them] waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba.
31 So the Israeli people began to live in the land where the Amor people-group lived.
And Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites.
32 After Moses/I sent some men to explore the area near Jazer [city], Israeli people began to live in all the towns in that region and expelled the Amor people-group who lived there.
And Moses sent to spy out Jaazer, and they took its dependent villages, and he dispossessed the Amorites that were there.
33 Then they turned [north] toward the Bashan region, but King Og of Bashan and all his army attacked them at Edrei [town].
And they turned and went up by the way to Bashan; and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, for battle to Edrei.
34 Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Do not be afraid of Og, because I am going to enable your men to defeat him and his army, and to take possession of all his land. You will do to him what you did to Sihon, the king of the Amor people-group, who ruled in Heshbon.”
And Jehovah said to Moses, Fear him not! for into thy hand have I given him, and all his people, and his land; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon the king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.
35 And that is what happened. We Israelis defeated Og’s army, and killed King Og and his sons and all his people. Not a person survived! And then we Israelis began to live in their land.
And they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, so that they left him none remaining, and took possession of his land.
