Numbers 21

¹When the Canaanite , the king of Arad , who lived 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 you will indeed give this people into my hand , then I will devote their cities to destruction .

³And the Lord heeded the voice of Israel and gave over the Canaanites , and they devoted them and their cities to destruction . 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 everyone 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 anyone , he would look at the bronze serpent and live .

¹⁰And the people of Israel set out and camped in Oboth .

¹¹And they set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim , in the wilderness that is opposite Moab , toward the sunrise .

¹²From there they set out and camped in the Valley of Zered .

¹³From there they set out and camped on the other side of the Arnon , which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites , for the Arnon is the border of Moab , between Moab and the Amorites .

¹⁴Therefore 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 , so that I may give them water .

¹⁷Then Israel sang this song : Spring up , O well !— Sing to it!—

¹⁸the well that the princes made , that the nobles of the people dug , with the scepter and with their staffs . And from the wilderness they went on to Mattanah ,

¹⁹and from Mattanah to Nahaliel , and from Nahaliel to Bamoth ,

²⁰and from Bamoth to the valley lying in the region of Moab by the top of Pisgah that looks down on the desert .

²¹Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites , saying ,

²²Let 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 people together and went out against Israel to the wilderness and came to Jahaz and fought against Israel .

²⁴And Israel defeated 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 the border of the Ammonites was strong .

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 came out from Heshbon , flame from the city of Sihon . It devoured Ar of Moab , and swallowed 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 we overthrew them; Heshbon , as far as Dibon , perished ; and we laid waste as far as Nophah ; fire spread as far as Medeba .

³¹Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites .

³²And Moses sent to spy out Jazer , and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who 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 Edrei .

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 lived at Heshbon .

³⁵So they defeated him and his sons and all his people , until he had no survivor left . And they possessed his land .