# Numbers 21

> Lumin Translation

Source: https://www.lumin.faith/read/numbers/21

Lumin’s own translation, drafted with AI from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, checked verse by verse against them, and approved by Lumin. Brackets mark verses not found in the earliest manuscripts.

How it was made: https://www.lumin.faith/lumin-translation.md

1. When 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.
2. Then Israel made a vow to Yahweh: “If you will indeed hand this people over to me, I will devote their towns to destruction.”
3. Yahweh listened to Israel’s voice and handed the Canaanites over. They devoted them and their towns to destruction, and the place was named Hormah.
4. They 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.
5. The 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!”
6. Then Yahweh sent fiery snakes among the people. They bit the people, and many Israelites died.
7. The 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.
8. Yahweh said to Moses, “Make a fiery snake and put it on a pole. Anyone who is bitten and looks at it will live.”
9. So 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.
10. The Israelites set out and camped at Oboth.
11. They set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness that faces Moab toward the sunrise.
12. From there they set out and camped in the Zered Valley.
13. From 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.
14. That is why the Book of the Wars of Yahweh speaks of “Waheb in Suphah and the valleys of the Arnon,
15. and the slope of the valleys that extends to the site of Ar and lies along the border of Moab.”
16. From there they went on to Beer, the well where Yahweh said to Moses, “Gather the people, and I will give them water.”
17. Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well! Sing to it,
18. the 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,
19. from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth,
20. and from Bamoth to the valley in the region of Moab, near the top of Pisgah, which overlooks Jeshimon.
21. Israel 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.”
23. But 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.
24. Israel 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.
25. Israel captured all these towns and settled in all the towns of the Amorites, in Heshbon and all its villages.
26. Heshbon 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.
27. That is why the poets say, “Come to Heshbon! Let it be rebuilt; let the city of Sihon be restored.
28. For 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.
29. Woe 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.
30. But we have shot them down; Heshbon is destroyed as far as Dibon. We laid waste as far as Nophah, which reaches to Medeba.”
31. So Israel settled in the land of the Amorites.
32. Moses sent men to spy out Jazer, and they captured its villages and drove out the Amorites who were there.
33. Then 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.
34. Yahweh 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.”
35. So they struck down Og, his sons, and all his army, until they had left him no survivors, and they took possession of his land.

## Nearby chapters

[Numbers 20](https://www.lumin.faith/read/numbers/20.md)
[Numbers 22](https://www.lumin.faith/read/numbers/22.md)

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