The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Numbers 21
1 The Canaanite, the king of Arad, who
lived in the South, heard that Israel came
by the way of Atharim. He fought against
Israel, and took some of them captive.
2 Israel vowed a vow to Yahweh, and
said, “If you will indeed deliver this people
into my hand, then I will utterly destroy
their cities.”
3 Yahweh listened to the voice of Israel,
and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed
them and their cities.
Thename ofthe place was calledHormah.†
4 They traveled from Mount Hor by the
way to the Red Sea, to go around the land
of Edom. The soul of the people was very
discouraged because of the journey.
5 The people spoke against God and
against Moses: “Why have you brought us
up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?
For there is no bread, there is no water,
and our soul loathes this disgusting food!”
6 Yahweh sent venomous snakes among
the people, and they bit the people. Many
people of Israel died.
7 The people came to Moses, and said,
“We have sinned, because we have spoken
against Yahweh and against you. Pray to
Yahweh, that he take away the serpents
from us.” Moses prayed for the people.
8 Yahweh said to Moses, “Make a venomous snake, and set it on a pole. It shall
happen that everyone who is bitten, when
he sees it, shall live.”
9 Moses made a serpent of bronze, and
set it on the pole. If a serpent had bitten
any man, when he looked at the serpent of
bronze, he lived.
10 The children of Israel traveled, and
encamped in Oboth.
11 They traveled from Oboth, and encamped at Iyeabarim, in the wilderness
which is before Moab, toward the sunrise.
12 From there they traveled, and encamped in the valley of Zered.
13 From there they traveled, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon,
which is in the wilderness that comes out
of the border of the Amorites; for the
Arnon is the border of Moab, between
Moab and the Amorites.
14 Therefore it is said in The Book of the
Wars of Yahweh, “Vaheb in Suphah, the
valleys of the Arnon,
15 the slope of the valleys that incline
toward the dwelling of Ar, leans on the
border of Moab.”
16 From there they traveled to Beer; that
is the well of which Yahweh said to Moses,
“Gather the people together, and I will give
them water.”
17 Then Israel sang this song:
“Spring up, well! Sing to it,
18 the well, which the princes dug,
which the nobles of the people dug,
with the scepter, and with their poles.”
From the wilderness they traveled to
Mattanah;
19 and from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and
from Nahaliel to Bamoth;
20 and from Bamoth to the valley that is
in the field of Moab, to the top of Pisgah,
which looks down on the desert.
21 Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of
the Amorites, saying,
22 “Let me pass through your land. We
will not turn away into field or vineyard.
We will not drink of the water of the wells.
We will go by the king’s highway, until we
have passed your border.”
23 Sihon would not allow Israel to pass
through his border, but Sihon gathered all
his people together, and went out against
Israel into the wilderness, and came to
Jahaz. He fought against Israel.
24 Israel struck him with the edge of the
sword, and possessed his land from the
Arnon to the Jabbok, even to the children
of Ammon; for the border of the children
of Ammon was fortified.
25 Israel took all these cities. Israel lived
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
againstthe former king ofMoab, andtaken
all his land out of his hand, even to the
Arnon.
27 Therefore those who speak in
proverbs say,
“Come to Heshbon.
Let the city of Sihon be built and established;
28 for a fire has gone out of Heshbon,
a flame from the city of Sihon.
It has devoured Ar of Moab,
The lords of the high places of the
Arnon.
29 Woe to you, Moab!
You are undone, people of Chemosh!
He has given his sons as fugitives,
and his daughters into captivity,
to Sihon king of the Amorites.
30 We have shot at them. Heshbon has perished even to Dibon.
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 Jazer. They took
its villages, and drove out the Amorites
who were there.
33 They turned and went up by the way
of Bashan. Og the king of Bashan went
out against them, he and all his people, to
battle at Edrei.
34 Yahweh said to Moses, “Don’tfear him,
for I have delivered him into your hand,
with all his people, and his land. You shall
do to him as you did to Sihon king of the
Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.”
35 So they struck him, with his sons and
all his people, until there were no survivors; and they possessed his land.