Chapter 21

Arad Conquered

1 When the Canaanite, the king of aArad, who lived in the 1Negev, heard that Israel was coming by the way of 2Atharim, then he fought against Israel and took some of them captive.

2 So aIsrael made a vow to the Lord and said, “If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will 1utterly destroy their cities.”

3 The Lord heard the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites; then they 1utterly destroyed them and their cities. Thus the name of the place was called 2aHormah.

4 Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the 1Red Sea, to ago around the land of Edom; and the 2people became impatient because of the journey.

5 The people spoke against God and Moses, “aWhy have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no 1food and no water, and 2bwe loathe this miserable food.”

The Bronze Serpent

6 aThe Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and bthey bit the people, so that cmany people of Israel died.

7 aSo the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and you; bintercede with the Lord, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people.

8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “1Make a afiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.”

9 And Moses made a abronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.

10 aNow the sons of Israel moved out and camped in Oboth.

11 They journeyed from Oboth and camped at Iyeabarim, in the wilderness which is opposite Moab, to the 1east.

12 aFrom there they set out and camped in 1Wadi Zered.

13 From there they journeyed and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that comes out of the border of the Amorites, afor the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.

14 Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord,

“Waheb in Suphah,

And the wadis of the Arnon,

15 And the slope of the wadis

That extends to the site of aAr,

And leans to the border of Moab.”

16 aFrom there they continued to 1Beer, that is the well where the Lord said to Moses, “Assemble the people, that I may give them water.”

17 aThen Israel sang this song:

“Spring up, O well! Sing to it!

18 “The well, which the leaders sank,

Which the nobles of the people dug,

With the scepter and with their staffs.”

And from the wilderness they continued to Mattanah,

19 and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,

20 and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the land of Moab, at the top of Pisgah which overlooks the 1wasteland.

Two Victories

21 aThen Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying,

22 “aLet me pass through your land. We will not turn off into field or vineyard; we will not drink water from wells. We will go by the king’s highway until we have passed through your border.”

23 aBut Sihon would not permit Israel to pass through his border. So Sihon gathered all his people and went out against Israel in the wilderness, and came to bJahaz and fought against Israel.

24 Then aIsrael 1struck him with the edge of the sword, and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the sons of Ammon; for the bborder of the sons of Ammon was 2Jazer.

25 Israel took all these cities and aIsrael lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all her 1villages.

26 For Heshbon was the city of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken all his land out of his hand, as far as the Arnon.

27 Therefore those who use proverbs say,

“Come to Heshbon! Let it be built!

So let the city of Sihon be established.

28 “aFor a fire went forth from Heshbon,

A flame from the town of Sihon;

It devoured bAr of Moab,

The 1cdominant 2heights of the Arnon.

29 “aWoe to you, O Moab!

You are ruined, O people of bChemosh!

cHe has given his sons as fugitives,

dAnd his daughters into captivity,

To an Amorite king, Sihon.

30 “But we have cast them down,

Heshbon is ruined as far as aDibon,

Then 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 aJazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.

33 aThen they turned and went up by the way of Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan went out 1with all his people, for battle at bEdrei.

34 But the Lord said to Moses, “aDo 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.”

35 So athey 1killed him and his sons and all his people, until there was no remnant left him; and they possessed his land.