And the children of Israel, and all the multitude came into the desert of Sin, in the first month: and the people abode in Cades. And Mary died there, and was buried in the same place.

²And the people wanting water, came together against Moses and Aaron:

³And making a sedition, they said: Would God we had perished among our brethren before the Lord.

⁴Why have you brought out the church of the Lord into the wilderness, that both we and our cattle should die?

⁵Why have you made us come up out of Egypt, and have brought us into this wretched place which cannot be sowed, nor bringeth forth figs, nor vines, nor pomegranates, neither is there any water to drink?

⁶And Moses and Aaron leaving the multitude, went into the tabernacle of the covenant, and fell flat upon the ground, and cried to the Lord, and said. O Lord God, hear the cry of this people, and open to them thy treasure, a fountain of living water, that being satisfied, they may cease to murmur. And the glory of the Lord appeared over them.

⁷And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

⁸Take the rod, and assemble the people together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak to the rock before them, and it shall yield waters. And when thou hast brought forth water out of the rock, all the multitude and their cattle shall drink.

⁹Moses therefore took the rod, which was before the Lord, as he had commanded him,

¹⁰And having gathered together the multitude before the rock, he said to them: Hear, ye rebellious and incredulous: Can we bring you forth water out of this rock?

¹¹And when Moses had lifted up his hand, and struck the rock twice with the rod, there came forth water in great abundance, so that the people and their cattle drank,

¹²And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Because you have not believed me, to sanctify me before the children of Israel, you shall not bring these people into the land, which I will give them.

¹³This is the Water of contradiction, where the children of Israel strove with words against the Lord, and he was sanctified in them.

¹⁴In the mean time Moses sent messengers from Cades to the king of Edom, to say: Thus saith thy brother Israel: Thou knowest all the labour that hath come upon us:

¹⁵In what manner our fathers went down into Egypt, and there we dwelt a long time, and the Egyptians afflicted us and our fathers.

¹⁶And how we cried to the Lord, and he heard us, and sent an angel, who hath brought us out of Egypt. Lo, we are now in the city of Cades, which is in the uttermost of thy borders,

¹⁷And we beseech thee that we may have leave to pass through thy country. We will not go through the fields, nor through the vineyards, we will not drink the waters of thy wells, but we will go by the common highway, neither turning aside to the right hand, nor to the left, till we are past thy borders.

¹⁸And Edom answered them: Thou shalt not pass by me: if thou dost I will come out armed against thee.

¹⁹And the children of Israel said: We will go by the beaten way: and if we and our cattle drink of thy waters, we will give thee what is just: there shall be no difficulty in the price, only let us pass speedily.

²⁰But he answered: Thou shalt not pass. And immediately he came forth to meet them with an infinite multitude, and a strong hand,

²¹Neither would he condescend to their desire to grant them passage through his borders. Wherefore Israel turned another way from him.

²²And when they had removed the camp from Cades, they came to mount Hor, which is in the borders of the land of Edom:

²³Where the Lord spoke to Moses:

²⁴Let Aaron, saith he, go to his people: for he shall not go into the land which I have given the children of Israel, because he was incredulous to my words, at the waters of contradiction.

²⁵Take Aaron and his son with him, and bring them up into mount Hor:

²⁶And when thou hast stripped the father of his vesture, thou shalt vest therewith Eleazar his son: Aaron shall be gathered to his people, and die there.

²⁷Moses did as the Lord had commanded: and they went up into mount Hor before all the multitude.

²⁹And when he had stripped Aaron of his vestments, he vested Eleazar his son with them. And Aaron being dead in the top of the mountain, he came down with Eleazar.

³⁰And all the multitude seeing that Aaron was dead, mourned for him thirty days throughout all their families.

Chapter 21

And when king Arad the Chanaanite, who dwelt towards the south, had heard this, to wit, that Israel was come by the way of the spies, he fought against them, and overcoming them carried off their spoils.

²But Israel binding himself by vow to the Lord, said: If thou wilt deliver thus people into my hand, I will utterly destroy their cities.

³And the Lord heard the prayers of Israel, and delivered up the Chanaanite, and they cut them off and destroyed their cities: and they called the name of that place Horma, that is to say, Anathema.

⁴And they marched from mount Hor, by the way that leadeth to the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom. And the people began to be weary of their journey and labour:

⁵And speaking against God and Moses, they said: Why didst thou bring us out of Egypt, to die in the wilderness? There is no bread, nor have we any waters: our soul now loatheth this very light food.

⁶Wherefore the Lord sent among the people fiery serpents, which bit them and killed many of them.

⁷Upon which they came to Moses, and said; We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and thee: pray that he may take away these serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.

⁸And the Lord said to him: Make a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: whosoever being struck shall look on it, shall live.

⁹Moses therefore made a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: which when they that were bitten looked upon, they were healed.

¹⁰And the children of Israel setting forwards camped in Oboth.

¹¹And departing thence they pitched their tents in Jeabarim, in the wilderness, that faceth Moab toward the east.

¹²And removing from thence, they came to the torrent Zared:

¹³Which they left and encamped over against Arnon, which is in the desert and standeth out on the borders of the Amorrhite. For Arnon is the border of Moab, dividing the Moabites and the Amorrhites.

¹⁴Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord: As he did in the Red Sea, so will he do in the streams of Arnon.

¹⁵The rocks of the torrents were bowed down that they might rest in Ar, and lie down in the borders of the Moabites.

¹⁶When they went from that place, the well appeared whereof the Lord said to Moses: Gather the people together, and I will give them water.

¹⁷Then Israel sung this song: Let the well spring up. They sung thereto:

¹⁸The well, which the princes dug, and the chiefs of the people prepared by the direction of the lawgiver, and with their staves. And they marched from the wilderness to Mathana.

¹⁹From Mathana unto Nahaliel: from Nahaliel unto Bamoth.

²⁰From Bamoth, is a valley in the country of Moab, to the top of Phasga, which looked towards the desert.

²¹And Israel sent messengers to Sehon king of the Amorrhites, saying:

²²I beseech thee that I may have leave to pass through thy land: we will not go aside into the fields or the vineyards, we will not drink waters of the wells, we will go the king’s highway, till we be past thy borders.

²³And he would not grant that Israel should pass by his borders: but rather gathering an army, went forth to meet them in the desert, and came to Jasa and fought against them.

²⁴And he was slain by them with the edge of the sword, and they possessed his land from the Arnon unto the Jeboc, and to the confines of the children of Ammon: for the borders of the Ammonites, were kept with a strong garrison.

²⁵So Israel took all his cities, and dwelt in the cities of the Amorrhite, to wit, in Hesebon, and in the villages thereof.

²⁶Hesebon was the city of Sehon the king of the Amorrhites, who fought against the king of Moab: and took all the land, that had been of his dominion, as far as the Arnon.

²⁷Therefore it is said in the proverb: Come into Hesebon, let the city of Sehon be built and set up:

²⁸A fire is gone out of Hesebon, a flame from the city of Sehon, and hath consumed Ar of the Moabites, and the inhabitants of the high places of the Arnon.

²⁹Woe to thee Moab: thou art undone, O people of Chamos. He hath given his sons to flight, and his daughters into captivity to Sehon the king of the Amorrhites.

³⁰Their yoke is perished from Hesebon unto Dibon, they came weary to Nophe, and unto Medaba.

³¹So Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorrhite.

³²And Moses sent some to take a view of Jazer: and they took the villages of it, and conquered the inhabitants.

³³And they turned themselves, and went up by the way of Basan, and Og the king of Basan came against them with all his people, to fight in Edrai.

³⁴And the Lord said to Moses: Fear him not, for I have delivered him and all his people, and his country into thy hand: and thou shalt do to him as thou didst to Sehon the king of the Amorrhites, the inhabitant of Hesebon.

³⁵So they slew him also with his sons, and all his people, not letting any one escape, and they possessed his land.

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