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, dwelling in the south, hears that Israel has come the way of the Atharim, and he fights against Israel, and takes [some] of them captive.
2 Then the Israelis solemnly vowed: “Yahweh, if you will help us to defeat these people, we will completely destroy all their towns.”
And Israel vows a vow to YHWH and says, “If You certainly give this people into my hand, then I have devoted 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 YHWH listens to the voice of Israel and gives up the Canaanite, and he devotes them and their cities, and calls 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 journey from Mount Hor, the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom, and the soul of the people is short in 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 speak against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in a wilderness? For there is no bread, and there is no water, and our soul has been weary of this light bread.”
6 So Yahweh sent poisonous snakes among them. Many of the people were bitten by the snakes and died.
And YHWH sends the burning serpents among the people, and they bite the people, and many people of Israel die;
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 come to Moses and say, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against YHWH and against you; pray to YHWH that He turns the serpent aside from us”; and Moses prays in behalf of 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 YHWH says to Moses, “Make a burning [serpent] for yourself, and set it on an ensign; and it has been, everyone who is bitten and has seen it—he has lived.”
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 makes a serpent of bronze, and sets it on the ensign, and it has been, if the serpent has bitten any man, and he has looked expectingly to the serpent of bronze—he has lived.
10 Then the Israelis traveled to Oboth and (camped/set up their tents) there.
And the sons of Israel journey and encamp in Oboth.
11 Then they left there, and went to Iye-Abarim, in the desert on the eastern border of Moab.
And they journey from Oboth and encamp in Ije-Abarim, in the wilderness that [is] on the front of Moab, at the rising of the sun.
12 From there they traveled to the valley where the Zered riverbed is, and camped there.
From there they have journeyed and encamp in the Valley of Zared.
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 there they have journeyed and encamp beyond Arnon, which [is] in the wilderness which is coming out of the border of the Amorite, for Arnon [is] the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorite;
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] scroll of the Wars of YHWH: “Waheb 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 spring of the brooks, Which turned aside to the dwelling of Ar, And has leaned to 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 there [they journeyed] to Beer; it [is] the well [concerning] which YHWH said to Moses, “Gather the people, and I give water to them.”
17 There the Israelis sang this song: “O well, give us water! Sing about this well!
Then Israel sings this song: “Spring up, O well, Let all answer to 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,
A well—princes have dug it, Nobles of the people have prepared it, With the lawgiver, with their staffs.” And from the wilderness [they journeyed] 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, in the valley which [is] in the field of Moab, [to] the top of Pisgah, which has looked on the front of the wilderness.
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 sends messengers to Sihon king of the Amorite, 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 me pass through your land, we do not turn aside into a field or into a vineyard; we do not drink waters of a well; we go in the king’s way until we pass over your 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].
And Sihon has not permitted Israel to pass through his border, and Sihon gathers all his people, and comes out to meet Israel in the wilderness, and comes to Jahaz, and fights 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 strikes him by the mouth of the sword, and possesses his land from Arnon to Jabbok—to the sons of Ammon; for the border of the sons of Ammon [is] 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 takes all these cities, and Israel dwells in all the cities of the Amorite, in Heshbon and in all its 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 is a city of Sihon king of the Amorite, and he has fought against the former king of Moab, and takes all his land out of his hand as far as 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 those using allegories say: “Enter Heshbon, Let the city of Sihon be built and ready,
28 A fire blazed from Heshbon; it burned down Ar [city] in Moab, it destroyed [everything on] the hills along the Arnon [River].
For fire has gone out from Heshbon, A flame from the city of Sihon, It has consumed Ar of Moab, Owners of the high places of 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 you, O Moab, You have perished, O people of Chemosh! He has given his sons [as] fugitives, And his daughters into captivity, To Sihon king of the Amorite!
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 shoot them; Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon, And we make desolate as far as Nophah, Which [is] as far as Medeba.”
31 So the Israeli people began to live in the land where the Amor people-group lived.
And Israel dwells in the land of the Amorite,
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 sends to spy out Jaazer, and they capture its villages, and dispossess the Amorite who [is] 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 turn and go up the way of Bashan, and Og king of Bashan comes out to meet them, he and all his people, to battle [at] 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 YHWH says to Moses, “Do not fear him, for into your hand I have given him, and all his people, and his land, and you have done to him as you have done to Sihon king of the Amorite, who is dwelling in 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 strike him, and his sons, and all his people, until he has no remnant left to him, and they possess his land.
