Numbers 21

1When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming by the road to Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them captive.

2Then Israel made a vow to Yahweh: “If you will indeed hand this people over to me, I will devote their towns to destruction.”

3Yahweh listened to Israel’s voice and handed the Canaanites over. They devoted them and their towns to destruction, and the place was named Hormah.

4They set out from Mount Hor by the road to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom, but the people grew impatient on the way.

5The people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food!”

6Then Yahweh sent fiery snakes among the people. They bit the people, and many Israelites died.

7The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we spoke against Yahweh and against you. Pray to Yahweh to take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

8Yahweh said to Moses, “Make a fiery snake and put it on a pole. Anyone who is bitten and looks at it will live.”

9So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on the pole. Whenever a snake bit someone, and that person looked at the bronze snake, they lived.

10The Israelites set out and camped at Oboth.

11They set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness that faces Moab toward the sunrise.

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

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

14That is why the Book of the Wars of Yahweh speaks of “Waheb in Suphah and the valleys of the Arnon,

15and the slope of the valleys that extends to the site of Ar and lies along the border of Moab.”

16From there they went on to Beer, the well where Yahweh said to Moses, “Gather the people, and I will give them water.”

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

18the well that the princes dug, that the nobles of the people dug with a scepter and with their staffs.” From the wilderness they went on to Mattanah,

19from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth,

20and from Bamoth to the valley in the region of Moab, near the top of Pisgah, which overlooks Jeshimon.

21Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites:

22“Let us pass through your land. We will not turn aside into any field or vineyard, and we will not drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”

23But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. He gathered all his army and went out into the wilderness against Israel. When he reached Jahaz, he fought against Israel.

24Israel struck him down with the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the Ammonites, for the border of the Ammonites was fortified.

25Israel captured all these towns and settled in all the towns of the Amorites, in Heshbon and all its villages.

26Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land from him as far as the Arnon.

27That is why the poets say, “Come to Heshbon! Let it be rebuilt; let the city of Sihon be restored.

28For fire went out from Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon. It consumed Ar of Moab, the lords of the heights of the Arnon.

29Woe to you, Moab! You are destroyed, you people of Chemosh! He has let his sons become fugitives and his daughters captives to Sihon king of the Amorites.

30But we have shot them down; Heshbon is destroyed as far as Dibon. We laid waste as far as Nophah, which reaches to Medeba.”

31So Israel settled in the land of the Amorites.

32Moses sent men to spy out Jazer, and they captured its villages and drove out the Amorites who were there.

33Then they turned and went up by the road to Bashan, and Og king of Bashan and all his army came out to meet them in battle at Edrei.

34Yahweh said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you, with all his army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.”

35So they struck down Og, his sons, and all his army, until they had left him no survivors, and they took possession of his land.