1The Canaanite king of the city of Arad lived in the Negev Desert. He heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim. So he attacked the Israelites. He captured some of them.2Then Israel made a promise to the LORD. They said, ‘Hand these people over to us. If you do, we will set their cities apart to you in a special way to be destroyed.’3The LORD gave Israel what they asked for. He handed the Canaanites over to them. Israel completely destroyed them and their towns. So that place was named Hormah.
Moses makes a bronze snake
4The Israelites travelled from Mount Hor along the way to the Red Sea. They wanted to go around Edom. But they grew tired on the way.5So they spoke against God and against Moses. They said, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt? Do you want us to die here in the desert? We don’t have any bread! We don’t have any water! And we hate this awful food!’6Then the LORD sent poisonous snakes among the Israelites. The snakes bit them. Many of the people died.7The others came to Moses. They said, ‘We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people.8The LORD said to Moses, ‘Make a snake. Put it up on a pole. Then anyone who is bitten can look at it and remain alive.’9So Moses made a bronze snake. He put it up on a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake remained alive.
The people continue on to Moab
10The Israelites moved on. They camped at Oboth.11Then they started out from Oboth. They camped in Iye Abarim. It’s in the desert on the eastern border of Moab.12From there they moved on. They camped in the Zered Valley.13They started out from there and camped by the River Arnon. It’s in the desert that spreads out into the territory of the Amorites. The Arnon is the border of Moab. It’s between Moab and the Amorites.14Here is what the Book of the Wars of the LORD says about it. ‘Sing about Zahab in Suphah and the valleys. Sing about the Arnon15and the slopes of the valleys. They lead to the settlement called Ar. They lie along the border of Moab.’16From there the Israelites continued on to Beer. That was the well where the LORD spoke to Moses. He said, ‘Gather the people together. I will give them water to drink.’17Then Israel sang a song. They said, ‘Spring up, you well! Sing about it.18Sing about the well the princes dug. Sing about the well the nobles of the people dug. All their rulers were holding their sceptres and walking sticks.’ Then the Israelites went from the desert to Mattanah.19They went from Mattanah to Nahaliel. They went from Nahaliel to Bamoth.20And they went from Bamoth to a valley in Moab. It’s the valley where the highest slopes of Pisgah look out over a dry and empty land.
Israel wins the battle over Sihon and Og
21The Israelites sent messengers to speak to Sihon. He was the king of the Amorites. The messengers said to him,22‘Let us pass through your country. We won’t go off the road into any field or vineyard. We won’t drink water from any well. We’ll travel along the King’s Highway. We’ll just go straight through your territory.’23But Sihon wouldn’t let Israel pass through his territory. He gathered his whole army together. Then he marched out into the desert against Israel. When he reached Jahaz, he fought against Israel.24But Israel put him to death with their swords. They took over his land. They took everything from the River Arnon to the River Jabbok. But they didn’t take over any of the land of the Ammonites. That’s because the Ammonites had built strong forts along their border.25The Israelites captured all the cities of the Amorites. Then they settled down in them. They captured the city of Heshbon. They also captured all the settlements around it.26Sihon, the king of the Amorites, ruled in Heshbon. He had fought against an earlier king of Moab. Sihon had taken from him all his land all the way to the River Arnon.27That’s why the poets say, ‘Come to Heshbon. Let it be built again. Let Sihon’s city be made as good as new.28‘Fire went out from Heshbon. A blaze went out from the city of Sihon. It burned Ar in Moab. It burned the citizens who lived on Arnon’s hills.29Moab, how terrible it is for you! People of Chemosh, you are destroyed! Chemosh has deserted his sons and daughters. His sons have run away from the battle. His daughters have become prisoners. He has handed all of them over to Sihon, the king of the Amorites.30‘But we have taken them over. Heshbon’s rule has been destroyed all the way to Dibon. We have destroyed them as far as Nophah. Nophah goes all the way to Medeba.’31So Israel settled in the land of the Amorites.32Moses sent spies to the city of Jazer. The Israelites captured the settlements around it. They drove out the Amorites who were there.33Then they turned and went up along the road towards Bashan. Og was the king of Bashan. He and his whole army marched out. They went to fight against Israel at Edrei.34The LORD said to Moses, ‘Do not be afraid of Og. I have handed him over to you. I have given you his whole army. I have also given you his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon, the king of the Amorites. He ruled in Heshbon.’35So the Israelites struck down Og and his sons. And they wiped out his whole army. They didn’t leave anyone alive. They took over his land for themselves.
Numbers 21
English Standard Version
Arad Destroyed
1When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive. (Nu 13:17; Nu 33:40; Jud 1:16)2And Israel vowed a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed give this people into my hand, then I will devote their cities to destruction.”[1] (Ge 28:20; Jud 11:30)3And the Lord heeded the voice of Israel and gave over the Canaanites, and they devoted them and their cities to destruction. So the name of the place was called Hormah.[2] (Nu 14:45; De 1:44; Jos 19:4; Jud 1:17)
The Bronze Serpent
4From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. (Nu 20:22; Nu 33:41; Jud 11:18)5And 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 food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” (Ex 16:3; Ex 17:3; Nu 11:6; Ps 78:19)6Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. (De 8:15; Isa 14:29; Isa 30:6; Jer 8:17; 1Co 10:9)7And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. (Ex 8:8; Ex 8:28; Nu 11:2; 1Sa 12:19; 1Ki 13:6; Ps 78:34; Ac 8:24)8And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.”9So Moses made a bronze[3] serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. (2Ki 18:4; Joh 3:14)
The Song of the Well
10And the people of Israel set out and camped in Oboth. (Nu 33:43)11And they set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness that is opposite Moab, toward the sunrise. (Nu 21:10)12From there they set out and camped in the Valley of Zered. (De 2:13)13From there they set out and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites, for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. (Nu 22:36; Jud 11:18)14Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord, “Waheb in Suphah, and the valleys of the Arnon,15and the slope of the valleys that extends to the seat of Ar, and leans to the border of Moab.” (Nu 21:28; De 2:9; De 2:18; De 2:29; Isa 15:1)16And from there they continued to Beer;[4] that is the well of which the Lord said to Moses, “Gather the people together, so that I may give them water.” (Ex 17:6; Nu 20:8; 2Sa 20:14)17Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well!—Sing to it!—18the well that the princes made, that the nobles of the people dug, with the scepter and with their staffs.” And from the wilderness they went on to Mattanah, (Ge 49:10)19and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,20and from Bamoth to the valley lying in the region of Moab by the top of Pisgah that looks down on the desert.[5] (Nu 23:28)
King Sihon Defeated
21Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, (De 2:26; Jud 11:19)22“Let me pass through your land. We will not turn aside into field or vineyard. We will not drink the water of a well. We will go by the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.” (Nu 20:17)23But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. He gathered all his people together and went out against Israel to the wilderness and came to Jahaz and fought against Israel. (De 2:32; De 29:7; Jud 11:20)24And Israel defeated him with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as to the Ammonites, for the border of the Ammonites was strong. (Ge 32:22; De 2:33; Jos 12:1; Jos 24:8; Ne 9:22; Ps 135:11; Ps 136:19; Am 2:9)25And Israel took all these cities, and Israel settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages.26For 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, as far as the Arnon.27Therefore the ballad singers say, “Come to Heshbon, let it be built; let the city of Sihon be established. (Nu 23:7; Nu 32:37)28For fire came out from Heshbon, flame from the city of Sihon. It devoured Ar of Moab, and swallowed[6] the heights of the Arnon. (Nu 21:15; Nu 21:27; Jer 48:45)29Woe to you, O Moab! You are undone, O people of Chemosh! He has made his sons fugitives, and his daughters captives, to an Amorite king, Sihon. (Nu 21:28; Jud 11:24; 1Ki 11:7; 2Ki 23:13; Jer 48:7)30So we overthrew them; Heshbon, as far as Dibon, perished; and we laid waste as far as Nophah; fire spread as far as Medeba.”[7] (Nu 32:3; Nu 33:45; Jos 13:17; 1Ch 19:7; Isa 15:2; Jer 48:18)
King Og Defeated
31Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites.32And Moses sent to spy out Jazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there. (Nu 32:1; Jos 13:25; 2Sa 24:5; Jer 48:32)33Then they turned and went up by the way to Bashan. And Og the king of Bashan came out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. (De 1:4; De 3:1; Jos 13:12)34But the Lord said to Moses, “Do 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.” (Nu 21:24; De 3:2)35So they defeated him and his sons and all his people, until he had no survivor left. And they possessed his land.