Numbers 21

¹ The king of Arad,[*a] a Canaanite living in the Negeb, learned that Israel was coming by way of Atharim. He attacked Israel and took some prisoners.

² Israel then made this vow to Yahweh, ‘If you deliver this people into my power, I will lay their towns under ban’.

³ Yahweh heard the voice of Israel and delivered the Canaanites into their power. And they laid them under ban, both them and their towns. This place was given the name Hormah.

⁴ They left Mount Hor by the road to the Sea of Suph,[*b] to skirt the land of Edom. On the way the people lost patience.

⁵ They spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this wilderness? For there is neither bread nor water here; we are sick of this unsatisfying food.’

⁶ At this God sent fiery serpents among the people; their bite brought death to many in Israel.

⁷ The people came and said to Moses, ‘We have sinned by speaking against Yahweh and against you. Intercede for us with Yahweh to save us from these serpents.’ Moses interceded for the people,

⁸ and Yahweh answered him, ‘Make a fiery serpent and put it on a standard. If anyone is bitten and looks at it, he shall live.’

⁹ So Moses fashioned a bronze serpent which he put on a standard, and if anyone was bitten by a serpent, he looked at the bronze serpent and lived.

¹⁰ The sons of Israel set out and camped at Oboth.

¹¹ Then they left Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness that borders Moab, towards the sunrise.

¹² They set out from there and camped in the wadi Zered.

¹³ They set out from there and camped beyond the Arnon…[*c] This wadi in the desert begins in the land of the Amorites. For the Arnon is the frontier of Moab, between the Moabites and the Amorites.

¹⁴ Hence it is written in the Book of the Wars of Yahweh:

¹⁵ …Waheb by Suphah and the wadi Arnon and the slope of the ravine that runs down to the site of Ar and leans over the frontier of Moab…..

¹⁶ and from there they went on to Beer…[*d] It was of the well here that Yahweh had said to Moses, ‘Call the people together and I will give them water’.

¹⁷ Then it was that Israel sang this song: ‘For the well. Sing out for the well

¹⁸ that was sunk by the princes and dug by the leaders of the people with the sceptre, with their staves.’ …and from Beer to Mattanah,

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

²⁰ and from Bamoth to the valley that gives on to the country of Moab, towards the heights of Pisgah which marks the edge of the desert and looks down on it.

²¹ Israel sent messengers to say to Sihon, king of the Amorites,

²² ‘I wish to pass through your land. We will not stray into fields or vineyards; we will not drink any water from the wells; we will keep to the king’s highway until we are clear of your frontiers.’

²³ But Sihon would not give Israel leave to pass through his land. He gathered all his people, marched into the desert to meet Israel, and reached Jahaz, where he gave battle to Israel.

²⁴ Israel struck him down with the edge of the sword and conquered his country from the Anion to the Jabbok, as far as the sons of Ammon, for Jazer was the Ammonite frontier.

²⁵ Israel took all these towns, and occupied all the Amorite towns, Heshbon and all the towns under its jurisdiction,

²⁶ Heshbon being the capital of Sihon, king of the Amorites. It was the same Sihon who had waged war on the first king of Moab and captured all his territory as far as the Arnon.

²⁷ Hence the poets sing: Courage, Heshbon! Well built and well founded, city of Sihon!

²⁸ For a fire came out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon, it devoured Ar of Moab, it engulfed the heights of the Anion.

²⁹ Woe to you, Moab! You are lost, people of Chemosh! He has turned his sons into fugitives, his daughters into captives for Sihon, king of the Amorites.

³⁰ Heshbon has destroyed the little children as far as Dibon, the women as far as Nophah, the men as far as Medeba.

³¹ Israel settled in the land of the Amorites.

³² Moses sent men to reconnoitre Jazer, and Israel took it and all the towns in its jurisdiction and evicted the Amorites who dwelt there.

³³ Then they turned and marched in the direction of Bashan. Og king of Bashan marched out to meet them with all his people to give battle at Edrei.

³⁴ Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Do not be afraid of him, for I have given him into your power, him and all his people and his country. Deal with him as you dealt with Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.’

³⁵ So they defeated him, his sons and all his people; not one of them escaped. And they took possession of his country.