Arad Conquered
21 When the Canaanite, the king of (A)Arad, who lived in the [a]Negev, heard that Israel was coming by the way of [b]Atharim, then he fought against Israel and took some of them captive. 2 So (B)Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, “If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will [c]utterly destroy their cities.” 3 The Lord heard the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites; then they [d]utterly destroyed them and their cities. Thus the name of the place was called [e](C)Hormah.
4 Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the [f]Red Sea, to (D)go around the land of Edom; and the [g]people became impatient because of the journey. 5 The people spoke against God and Moses, “(E)Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no [h]food and no water, and [i](F)we loathe this miserable food.”
The Bronze Serpent
6 (G)The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and (H)they bit the people, so that (I)many people of Israel died. 7 (J)So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and you; (K)intercede with the Lord, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. 8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “[j]Make a (L)fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.” 9 And Moses made a (M)bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.
10 (N)Now the sons of Israel moved out and camped in Oboth. 11 They journeyed from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness which is opposite Moab, to the [k]east. 12 (O)From there they set out and camped in [l]Wadi Zered. 13 From there they journeyed and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that comes out of the border of the Amorites, (P)for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. 14 Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord,
“Waheb in Suphah,
And the wadis of the Arnon,
15 And the slope of the wadis
That extends to the site of (Q)Ar,
And leans to the border of Moab.”
16 (R)From there they continued to [m]Beer, that is the well where the Lord said to Moses, “Assemble the people, that I may give them water.”
17 (S)Then Israel sang this song:
“Spring up, O well! Sing to it!
18 “The well, which the leaders sank,
Which the nobles of the people dug,
With the scepter and with their staffs.”
And from the wilderness they continued to Mattanah, 19 and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, 20 and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the land of Moab, at the top of Pisgah which overlooks the [n]wasteland.
Two Victories
21 (T)Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying, 22 “(U)Let me pass through your land. We will not turn off into field or vineyard; we will not drink water from wells. We will go by the king’s highway until we have passed through your border.” 23 (V)But Sihon would not permit Israel to pass through his border. So Sihon gathered all his people and went out against Israel in the wilderness, and came to (W)Jahaz and fought against Israel. 24 Then (X)Israel [o]struck him with the edge of the sword, and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the sons of Ammon; for the (Y)border of the sons of Ammon was [p]Jazer. 25 Israel took all these cities and (Z)Israel lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all her [q]villages. 26 For Heshbon was the city of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken all his land out of his hand, as far as the Arnon. 27 Therefore those who use proverbs say,
“Come to Heshbon! Let it be built!
So let the city of Sihon be established.
28 “(AA)For a fire went forth from Heshbon,
A flame from the town of Sihon;
It devoured (AB)Ar of Moab,
The [r](AC)dominant [s]heights of the Arnon.
29 “(AD)Woe to you, O Moab!
You are ruined, O people of (AE)Chemosh!
(AF)He has given his sons as fugitives,
(AG)And his daughters into captivity,
To an Amorite king, Sihon.
30 “But we have cast them down,
Heshbon is ruined as far as (AH)Dibon,
Then we have laid waste even to Nophah,
Which reaches to Medeba.”
31 Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites. 32 Moses sent to spy out (AI)Jazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.
33 (AJ)Then they turned and went up by the way of Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan went out [t]with all his people, for battle at (AK)Edrei. 34 But the Lord said to Moses, “(AL)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.” 35 So (AM)they [u]killed him and his sons and all his people, until there was no remnant left him; and they possessed his land.
Footnotes
- Numbers 21:1 I.e. South country
- Numbers 21:1 Or the spies
- Numbers 21:2 Lit devote to destruction
- Numbers 21:3 Lit devoted to destruction
- Numbers 21:3 I.e. a devoted thing; or Destruction
- Numbers 21:4 Lit Sea of Reeds
- Numbers 21:4 Lit soul of the people was short
- Numbers 21:5 Lit bread
- Numbers 21:5 Lit our soul loathes
- Numbers 21:8 Lit Make for yourself
- Numbers 21:11 Lit sunrise
- Numbers 21:12 I.e. a dry ravine except during rainy season
- Numbers 21:16 I.e. a well
- Numbers 21:20 Or Jeshimon
- Numbers 21:24 Lit smote, so with Gr and Lat
- Numbers 21:24 M.T. reads strong
- Numbers 21:25 Lit daughters
- Numbers 21:28 Lit lords of the
- Numbers 21:28 Or Bamoth
- Numbers 21:33 Lit he and
- Numbers 21:35 Lit smote
Cross references
- Numbers 21:1 : Num 33:40; Josh 12:14; Judg 1:16
- Numbers 21:2 : Gen 28:20; Judg 11:30
- Numbers 21:3 : Num 14:45
- Numbers 21:4 : Deut 2:8
- Numbers 21:5 : Num 14:2, 3
- Numbers 21:5 : Num 11:6
- Numbers 21:6 : Deut 8:15
- Numbers 21:6 : Jer 8:17
- Numbers 21:6 : 1 Cor 10:9
- Numbers 21:7 : Num 11:2; Ps 78:34; Is 26:16; Hos 5:15
- Numbers 21:7 : Ex 8:8; 1 Sam 12:19; Acts 8:24
- Numbers 21:8 : Is 14:29; 30:6; John 3:14
- Numbers 21:9 : 2 Kin 18:4; John 3:14, 15
- Numbers 21:10 : Num 33:43, 44
- Numbers 21:12 : Num 33:45
- Numbers 21:13 : Num 22:36; Judg 11:18
- Numbers 21:15 : Num 21:28; Deut 2:9, 18, 29
- Numbers 21:16 : Num 33:46-49
- Numbers 21:17 : Ex 15:1; Ps 105:2
- Numbers 21:21 : Deut 2:26-37; Judg 11:19
- Numbers 21:22 : Num 20:16, 17
- Numbers 21:23 : Num 20:21
- Numbers 21:23 : Deut 2:32
- Numbers 21:24 : Amos 2:9
- Numbers 21:24 : Deut 2:37
- Numbers 21:25 : Amos 2:10
- Numbers 21:28 : Jer 48:45
- Numbers 21:28 : Num 21:15
- Numbers 21:28 : Num 22:41; Is 15:2; 16:12
- Numbers 21:29 : Jer 48:46
- Numbers 21:29 : Judg 11:24; 1 Kin 11:33; 2 Kin 23:13
- Numbers 21:29 : Is 15:5
- Numbers 21:29 : Is 16:2
- Numbers 21:30 : Num 32:3, 34; Jer 48:18, 22
- Numbers 21:32 : Num 32:1, 3, 35; Jer 48:32
- Numbers 21:33 : Deut 3:1-7
- Numbers 21:33 : Josh 13:12
- Numbers 21:34 : Deut 3:2
- Numbers 21:35 : Deut 3:3, 4