Numbers 21

1 And [when] king Arad the Canaanite, who dwelt in the south, heard that Israel came by the way of the spies; then he fought against Israel, and took [some] of them prisoners.
2 And Israel vowed a vow to the LORD, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.
3 And the LORD hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and he called the name of the place Hormah.
4 And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.
5 And the people spoke against God, and against Moses, Why have ye brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for [there is] no bread, neither [is there any] water; and our soul lotheth this light bread.
6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many people of Israel died.
7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
8 And the LORD said to Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
10 And the children of Israel moved forward, and pitched in Oboth.
11 And they journeyed from Oboth, and pitched at Ije-abarim, in the wilderness which [is] before Moab, towards the sun-rising.
12 From thence they removed, and pitched in the valley of Zared.
13 From thence they removed, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, which [is] in the wilderness that cometh out of the coasts of the Amorites: for Arnon [is] the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.
14 Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the LORD, What he did in the Red sea, and in the brooks of Arnon,
15 And at the stream of the brooks that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar, and lieth upon the border of Moab.
16 And from thence [they went] to Beer: that [is] the well of which the LORD spoke to Moses, Assemble the people, and I will give them water.
17 Then Israel sung this song, Spring up, O well; sing ye to it:
18 The princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by [the direction of] the lawgiver, with their staffs. And from the wilderness [they went] to Mattanah:
19 And from Mattanah to Nahaliel: and from Nahaliel to Bamoth:
20 And from Bamoth [in] the valley, that [is] in the country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looketh towards Jeshimon.
21 And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,
22 Let me pass through thy land: we will not turn into the fields, or into the vineyards; we will not drink [of] the waters of the well: [but] we will go along by the king's [high]-way, until we have past thy borders.
23 And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border: but Sihon collected all his people, and went out against Israel into the wilderness: and he came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel:
24 And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from Arnon to Jabbok, even to the children of Ammon: for the border of the children of Ammon [was] strong.
25 And Israel took all these cities: and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages.
26 For Heshbon [was] the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even to Arnon.
27 Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say, Come into Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and prepared.
28 For there has a fire gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon: it hath consumed Ar of Moab, [and] the lords of the high places of Arnon.
29 Woe to thee, Moab! thou art undone, O people of Chemosh: he hath given his sons that escaped, and his daughters, into captivity to Sihon king of the Amorites.
30 We have shot at them; Heshbon has perished even to Dibon, and we have laid them waste even to Nophah, which [reacheth] to Medeba.
31 Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites.
32 And Moses sent to explore Jaazer, and they took its villages, and drove out the Amorites that [were] there.
33 And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he, and all his people, to the battle at Edrei.
34 And the LORD said to Moses, Fear him not: for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.
35 So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left to him alive: and they possessed his land.

Numbers 21 Commentaries

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