Canaanite King Defeated
1When the Canaanite king of Arad,21:1 Nm 33:40; Jos 12:14; Jdg 1:16 who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming on the Atharim road, he fought against Israel and captured some prisoners.
The Bronze Snake
4Then they set out from Mount Hor by way of the Red Sea to bypass the land of Edom, but the people became impatient because of the journey.
5The people spoke against God and Moses: “Why have you led us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!”
7The people then came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede with the Lord so that he will take the snakes away from us.” And Moses interceded for the people.
8Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake image and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will recover.”21:8 2Kg 18:4; Jn 3:14–15
9So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. Whenever someone was bitten, and he looked at the bronze snake, he recovered.
Journey around Moab
10The Israelites set out and camped at Oboth.21:10–11 Nm 33:43–44
11They set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim in the wilderness that borders Moab on the east.
12From there they went and camped at Zered Valley.
13They set out from there and camped on the other side of the Arnon River, in the wilderness that extends from the Amorite border, because the Arnon was the Moabite border between Moab and the Amorites.
14Therefore it is stated in the Book of the Lord’s Wars:
Waheb in Suphah
and the ravines of the Arnon,
15even the slopes of the ravines
and lie along the border of Moab.
16From there they went to Beer,21:16 = Well the well the Lord told Moses about, “Gather the people so I may give them water.”
17Then Israel sang this song:
Spring up, well — sing to it!
18The princes dug the well;
the nobles of the people hollowed it out
with a scepter and with their staffs.
They went from the wilderness to Mattanah,
19from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth,
Amorite Kings Defeated
22“Let us travel through your land. We won’t go into the fields or vineyards. We won’t drink any well water. We will travel the King’s Highway until we have traveled through your territory.”21:22 Nm 20:17; Dt 2:26–33
23But Sihon would not let Israel travel through his territory. Instead, he gathered his whole army and went out to confront Israel in the wilderness. When he came to Jahaz,21:23 Dt 2:32; Jdg 11:20; 1Ch 6:78 he fought against Israel.
24Israel struck him with the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok,21:21–24 Jdg 11:19–22 but only up to the Ammonite border, because it was fortified.21:24 LXX reads because the Ammonite border was Jazer
25Israel took all the cities and lived in all these Amorite cities, including Heshbon and all its surrounding villages.
26Heshbon was the city of King Sihon of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken control of all his land as far as the Arnon.
27Therefore the poets21:27 Lit ones who speak proverbs say:
Come to Heshbon, let it be rebuilt;
let the city of Sihon be restored.21:27 Or firmly founded
28For fire came out of Heshbon,
a flame from the city of Sihon.
It consumed Ar of Moab,
the citizens of Arnon’s heights.
29Woe to you, Moab!
You have been destroyed, people of Chemosh!21:27–29 Jdg 11:24; 1Kg 11:7,33; Jr 48:45–47
He gave up his sons as refugees,
and his daughters into captivity
to Sihon the Amorite king.
30We threw them down;
We caused desolation as far as Nophah,
31So Israel lived in the Amorites’ land.
32After Moses sent spies to Jazer, Israel captured its surrounding villages and drove out the Amorites who were there.
33Then they turned and went up the road to Bashan, and King Og of Bashan21:33 Nm 32:33; Dt 3:1–13; 4:47 came out against them with his whole army to do battle at Edrei.21:33 Dt 3:1,10; Jos 12:4; 13:12,31
34But the Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have handed him over to you along with his whole army and his land. Do to him as you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.”21:34 Dt 3:2
35So they struck him, his sons, and his whole army until no one was left,21:35 Lit left to him and they took possession of his land.21:35 Ps 135:10–11
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