Numbers 21:21-35

Two Victories

21 ¹Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying,

22 "²Let 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 ³But 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 ⁴Jahaz and fought against Israel.

24 Then ⁵Israel 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 ⁶border of the sons of Ammon was Jazer.

25 Israel took all these cities and ⁷Israel lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all her 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 "⁸For a fire went forth from Heshbon, A flame from the town of Sihon; It devoured ⁹Ar of Moab, The ¹⁰dominant heights of the Arnon.

29 "¹¹Woe to you, O Moab! You are ruined, O people of ¹²Chemosh! ¹³He has given his sons as fugitives, ¹⁴And his daughters into captivity, To an Amorite king, Sihon.

30 "But we have cast them down, Heshbon is ruined as far as ¹⁵Dibon, 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 ¹⁶Jazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.

33 ¹⁷Then they turned and went up by the way of Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan went out with all his people, for battle at ¹⁸Edrei.

34 But the LORD said to Moses, "¹⁹Do 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 ²⁰they killed him and his sons and all his people, until there was no remnant left him; and they possessed his land.

Numbers 21:21-35 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 21

This chapter gives an account of the defeat of King Arad, the Canaanite, Nu 21:1-3 of the murmurings of the children of Israel, because of difficulties in travelling round, the land of Edom, for which they were punished with fiery serpents, Nu 21:4-6 and how that upon their repentance a brazen serpent was ordered to be made, and to be erected on a pole, that whoever looked to it might live, Nu 21:7-9 and of the several journeys and stations of the children of Israel, until they came to the land of the Amorites, Nu 21:10-20, when they sent a message to Sihon their king, to desire him to grant them a passage through his country; but he refusing, they fought with him, smote him, and possessed his land, concerning which many proverbial sayings were used, Nu 21:21-32 and the chapter is concluded with the defeat of Og, king of Bashan, Nu 21:33-35.

Cross References

• 1. Deuteronomy 2:26-37; Judges 11:19
• 2. Numbers 20:16, 17
• 3. Numbers 20:21
• 4. Deuteronomy 2:32
• 5. Amos 2:9
• 6. Deuteronomy 2:37
• 7. Amos 2:10
• 8. Jeremiah 48:45
• 9. Numbers 21:15
• 10. Numbers 22:41; Isaiah 15:2; Isaiah 16:12
• 11. Jeremiah 48:46
• 12. Judges 11:24; 1 Kings 11:33; 2 Kings 23:13
• 13. Isaiah 15:5
• 14. Isaiah 16:2
• 15. Numbers 32:3, 34; Jeremiah 48:18, 22
• 16. Num 32:1, 3, 35; Jeremiah 48:32
• 17. Deuteronomy 3:1-7
• 18. Joshua 13:12
• 19. Deuteronomy 3:2
• 20. Deuteronomy 3:3, 4

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "smote," so with Gr and Lat
• [b]. M.T. reads "strong"
• [c]. Lit "daughters"
• [d]. Lit "lords of the"
• [e]. Or "Bamoth"
• [f]. Lit "he and"
• [g]. Lit "smote"