Numbers 21

¹When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who dwelt in the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive. ²And Israel vowed a vow to the Lord, and said, “If thou wilt indeed give this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.” ³And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel, and gave over the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities; so the name of the place was called Hormah.

⁴From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient on the way. ⁵And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” ⁶Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. ⁷And the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. ⁸And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” ⁹So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

¹⁰And the people of Israel set out, and encamped in Oboth. ¹¹And they set out from Oboth, and encamped at Iʹyeabʹarim, in the wilderness which is opposite Moab, toward the sunrise. ¹²From there they set out, and encamped in the Valley of Zered. ¹³From there they set out, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the boundary of the Amorites; for the Arnon is the boundary of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. ¹⁴Wherefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord,

“Waheb in Suphah,

and the valleys of the Arnon,

¹⁵and the slope of the valleys

that extends to the seat of Ar,

and leans to the border of Moab.”

¹⁶And from there they continued to Beer; that is the well of which the Lord said to Moses, “Gather the people together, and I will give them water.” ¹⁷Then Israel sang this song:

“Spring up, O well!—Sing to it!—

¹⁸the well which the princes dug,

which the nobles of the people delved,

with the scepter and with their staves.”

And from the wilderness they went on to Matʹtanah, ¹⁹and from Matʹtanah to Nahalʹiel, and from Nahalʹiel to Bamoth, ²⁰and from Bamoth to the valley lying in the region of Moab by the top of Pisgah which looks down upon the desert.

²¹Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, ²²“Let me pass through your land; we will not turn aside into field or vineyard; we will not drink the water of a well; we will go by the King’s Highway, until we have passed through your territory.” ²³But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. He gathered all his men together, and went out against Israel to the wilderness, and came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel. ²⁴And Israel slew him with the edge of the sword, and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as to the Ammonites; for Jazer was the boundary of the Ammonites. ²⁵And Israel took all these cities, and Israel settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages. ²⁶For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land out of his hand, as far as the Arnon. ²⁷Therefore the ballad singers say,

“Come to Heshbon, let it be built,

let the city of Sihon be established.

²⁸For fire went forth from Heshbon,

flame from the city of Sihon.

It devoured Ar of Moab,

the lords of the heights of the Arnon.

²⁹Woe to you, O Moab!

You are undone, O people of Chemosh!

He has made his sons fugitives,

and his daughters captives,

to an Amorite king, Sihon.

³⁰So their posterity perished from Heshbon, as far as Dibon,

and we laid waste until fire spread to Medʹeba.”

³¹Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. ³²And Moses sent to spy out Jazer; and they took its villages, and dispossessed the Amorites that were there. ³³Then they turned and went up by the way to Bashan; and Og the king of Bashan came out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edʹre-i. ³⁴But the Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear him; for I have given him into your hand, and all his people, and his land; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.” ³⁵So they slew him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was not one survivor left to him; and they possessed his land.