Numbers 21:27-35

27 therefore those using similes say -- `Enter ye Heshbon, Let the city of Sihon be built and ready,

28 For fire hath gone out from Heshbon, A flame from the city of Sihon, It hath consumed Ar of Moab, Owners of the high places of Arnon.

29 Wo to thee, O Moab, Thou hast perished, O people of Chemosh, He hath given his sons who escape -- Also his daughters -- Into captivity, to a king of the Amorite -- Sihon!

30 And we shoot them, Perished hath Heshbon unto Dibon, And we make desolate unto Nophah, Which [is] unto Medeba.'

31 And Israel dwelleth in the land of the Amorite,

32 and Moses sendeth to spy out Jaazer, and they capture its villages, and dispossess the Amorite who [is] there,

33 and turn and go up the way of Bashan, and Og king of Bashan cometh out to meet them, he and all his people, to battle, [at] Edrei.

34 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Fear him not, for into thy hand I have given him, and all his people, and his land, and thou hast done to him as thou hast done to Sihon king of the Amorite, who is dwelling in Heshbon.'

35 And they smite him, and his sons, and all his people, until he hath not left to him a remnant, and they possess his land.

Numbers 21:27-35 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.