1Quando o rei cananeu de Arade, que vivia no Neguebe, soube que Israel vinha pela estrada de Atarim, atacou os israelitas e capturou alguns deles.2Então Israel fez este voto ao SENHOR: “Se entregares este povo em nossas mãos, destruiremos totalmente as suas cidades”.3O SENHOR ouviu o pedido de Israel e lhes entregou os cananeus. Israel os destruiu completamente, a eles e às suas cidades; de modo que o lugar foi chamado Hormá.
A Serpente de Bronze
4Partiram eles do monte Hor pelo caminho do mar Vermelho, para contornarem a terra de Edom. Mas o povo ficou impaciente no caminho5e falou contra Deus e contra Moisés, dizendo: “Por que vocês nos tiraram do Egito para morrermos no deserto? Não há pão! Não há água! E nós detestamos esta comida miserável!”6Então o SENHOR enviou serpentes venenosas que morderam o povo, e muitos morreram.7O povo foi a Moisés e disse: “Pecamos quando falamos contra o SENHOR e contra você. Ore pedindo ao SENHOR que tire as serpentes do meio de nós”. E Moisés orou pelo povo.8O SENHOR disse a Moisés: “Faça uma serpente e coloque-a no alto de um poste; quem for mordido e olhar para ela viverá”.9Moisés fez então uma serpente de bronze e a colocou num poste. Quando alguém era mordido por uma serpente e olhava para a serpente de bronze, permanecia vivo.
A Viagem para Moabe
10Os israelitas partiram e acamparam em Obote.11Depois partiram de Obote e acamparam em Ijé-Abarim, no deserto defronte de Moabe, ao leste.12Dali partiram e acamparam no vale de Zerede.13Partiram dali e acamparam do outro lado do Arnom, que fica no deserto que se estende até o território amorreu. O Arnom é a fronteira de Moabe, entre Moabe e os amorreus.14É por isso que se diz no Livro das Guerras do SENHOR: “…Vaebe, em Sufá, e os vales, o Arnom15e as ravinas dos vales que se estendem até a cidade de Ar e chegam até a fronteira de Moabe”.16De lá prosseguiram até Beer, o poço onde o SENHOR disse a Moisés: “Reúna o povo, e eu lhe darei água”.17Então Israel cantou esta canção: “Brote água, ó poço! Cantem a seu respeito,18a respeito do poço que os líderes cavaram, que os nobres abriram com cetros e cajados”. Então saíram do deserto para Mataná,19de Mataná para Naaliel, de Naaliel para Bamote,20e de Bamote para o vale de Moabe, onde o topo do Pisga defronta com o deserto de Jesimom.
A Vitória sobre Seom e Ogue
21Israel enviou mensageiros para dizer a Seom, rei dos amorreus:22“Deixa-nos atravessar a tua terra. Não entraremos em nenhuma plantação, em nenhuma vinha, nem beberemos água de poço algum. Passaremos pela estrada do rei até que tenhamos atravessado o teu território”.23Seom, porém, não deixou Israel atravessar o seu território. Convocou todo o seu exército e atacou Israel no deserto. Quando chegou a Jaza, lutou contra Israel.24Porém Israel o destruiu com a espada e tomou-lhe as terras desde o Arnom até o Jaboque, até o território dos amonitas, pois Jazar estava na fronteira dos amonitas.25Israel capturou todas as cidades dos amorreus e as ocupou, inclusive Hesbom e todos os seus povoados.26Hesbom era a cidade de Seom, rei dos amorreus, que havia lutado contra o antigo rei de Moabe, tendo tomado todas as suas terras até o Arnom.27É por isso que os poetas dizem: “Venham a Hesbom! Seja ela reconstruída; seja restaurada a cidade de Seom!28“Fogo saiu de Hesbom, uma chama da cidade de Seom; consumiu Ar, de Moabe, os senhores do alto Arnom.29Ai de você, Moabe! Você está destruído, ó povo de Camos! Ele fez de seus filhos, fugitivos, e de suas filhas, prisioneiras de Seom, rei dos amorreus.30“Mas nós os derrotamos; Hesbom está destruída por todo o caminho até Dibom. Nós os arrasamos até Nofá, e até Medeba”.31Assim Israel habitou na terra dos amorreus.32Moisés enviou espiões a Jazar, e os israelitas tomaram os povoados ao redor e expulsaram os amorreus que ali estavam.33Depois voltaram e subiram pelo caminho de Basã, e Ogue, rei de Basã, com todo o seu exército, marchou para enfrentá-los em Edrei.34Mas o SENHOR disse a Moisés: “Não tenha medo dele, pois eu o entreguei a você, juntamente com todo o seu exército e com a sua terra. Você fará com ele o que fez com Seom, rei dos amorreus, que habitava em Hesbom”.35Então eles o derrotaram, bem como os seus filhos e todo o seu exército, não lhes deixando sobrevivente algum. E tomaram posse da terra dele.
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. (Nm 13:17; Nm 33:40; Jz 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] (Gn 28:20; Jz 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] (Nm 14:45; Dt 1:44; Js 19:4; Jz 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. (Nm 20:22; Nm 33:41; Jz 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; Nm 11:6; Sl 78:19)6Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. (Dt 8:15; Is 14:29; Is 30:6; Jr 8:17; 1 Co 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; 1 Sm 12:19; 1 Rs 13:6; Sl 11:2; Sl 78:34; At 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. (2 Rs 18:4; Jo 3:14; Jo 3:15)
The Song of the Well
10And the people of Israel set out and camped in Oboth. (Nm 33:43; Nm 33:44)11And they set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness that is opposite Moab, toward the sunrise. (Nm 10:1)12From there they set out and camped in the Valley of Zered. (Dt 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. (Nm 22:36; Jz 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.” (Nm 21:28; Dt 2:9; Dt 2:18; Dt 2:29; Is 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; Nm 20:8; 2 Sm 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, (Gn 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] (Nm 23:28)
King Sihon Defeated
21Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, (Dt 2:26; Dt 2:27; Jz 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.” (Nm 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. (Dt 2:32; Dt 29:7; Jz 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. (Gn 32:22; Dt 2:33; Js 12:1; Js 12:2; Js 24:8; Ne 9:22; Sl 135:11; Sl 136:19; Sl 136:20; 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. (Nm 23:7; Nm 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. (Nm 15:1; Nm 27:1; Jr 48:45; Jr 48:46)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. (Nm 28:1; Jz 11:24; 1 Rs 11:7; 2 Rs 23:13; Jr 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] (Nm 32:3; Js 13:17; 1 Cr 19:7; Is 15:2; Jr 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. (Nm 32:1; Js 13:25; 2 Sm 24:5; Jr 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. (Dt 1:4; Dt 3:1; Js 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.” (Nm 24:1; Dt 3:2)35So they defeated him and his sons and all his people, until he had no survivor left. And they possessed his land.