Numbers 20–21

The Death of Miriam

20And the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came ^kinto the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. And ^lMiriam died there and was buried there.

The Waters of Meribah

^2mNow there was no water for the congregation. ⁿAnd they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. ³And the people ^oquarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished ^pwhen our brothers perished before the Lord! ⁴Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? ⁵And ^qwhy have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.” ⁶Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and ^rfell on their faces. ^sAnd the glory of the Lord appeared to them, ⁷and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^8t“Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So ^uyou shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” ⁹And Moses took the staff ^vfrom before the Lord, as he commanded him.

Moses Strikes the Rock

¹⁰Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, ^w“Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” ¹¹And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, ^uand water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. ¹²And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because ^xyou did not believe in me, ^yto uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” ^13zThese are the waters of Meribah,¹ where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself holy.

Edom Refuses Passage

^14aMoses sent messengers from Kadesh to ^bthe king of Edom: “Thus says ^cyour brother Israel: You know all the hardship that we have met: ^15dhow our fathers went down to Egypt, ^eand we lived in Egypt a long time. ^fAnd the Egyptians dealt harshly with us and our fathers. ¹⁶And ^gwhen we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice and ^hsent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. And here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory. ¹⁷ⁱPlease let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, ^jor drink water from a well. We will go along the King’s Highway. We will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.” ¹⁸But Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through, lest I come out with the sword against you.” ¹⁹And the people of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the highway, ^kand if we drink of your water, I and my livestock, ^lthen I will pay for it. Let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.” ²⁰But he said, ^m“You shall not pass through.” And Edom came out against them with a large army and with a strong force. ²¹Thus Edom ⁿrefused to give Israel passage through his territory, so Israel ^oturned away from him.

The Death of Aaron

²²And they journeyed from ^pKadesh, and the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came to ^qMount Hor. ²³And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor, on the border of the land of Edom, ^24r“Let Aaron be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land that I have given to the people of Israel, because ^syou rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. ²⁵Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and bring them up to Mount Hor. ²⁶And strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron ^rshall be gathered to his people and shall die there.” ²⁷Moses did as the Lord commanded. And they went up Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. ^28tAnd Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron died there ^uon the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. ²⁹And when all the congregation saw that Aaron had perished, ^vall the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.

Arad Destroyed

21When ^wthe Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in ^xthe Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive. ^2yAnd 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 3}And 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 ^zHormah.²

The Bronze Serpent

⁴From Mount Hor ^athey set out by the way to the Red Sea, ^bto go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. ⁵And the people ^cspoke against God and against Moses, ^d“Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and ^ewe loathe this worthless food.” ^6fThen the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and ^gthey bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. ^7hAnd the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. ⁱPray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 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 ^jMoses made a bronze³ serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

The Song of the Well

¹⁰And the people of Israel set out and ^kcamped in Oboth. ^11kAnd they set out from Oboth and ^kcamped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness that is opposite Moab, toward the sunrise. ¹²From there they set out and camped in ^lthe Valley of Zered. 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 ^mArnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. 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 ⁿAr,

and leans to the border of Moab.”

¹⁶And from there they continued ^oto Beer;⁴ that is the well of which the Lord said to Moses, “Gather the people together, so that ^pI may give them water.” 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 ^qthe scepter and with their staffs.”

And from the wilderness they went on to Mattanah, 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 ^rthat looks down on the desert.⁵

King Sihon Defeated

²¹Then ^sIsrael sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, ^22t“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.” ^23uBut 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 ^vcame to Jahaz and fought against Israel. ^24wAnd Israel defeated him with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the ^xJabbok, as far as to the Ammonites, for the border of the Ammonites was strong. 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 ^yballad singers say,

“Come to ^zHeshbon, let it be built;

let the city of Sihon be established.

²⁸For ^afire came out from ^zHeshbon,

flame from the city of Sihon.

It devoured ⁿAr of Moab,

and swallowed⁶ the heights of the Arnon.

^29aWoe to you, O Moab!

You are undone, O people of ^bChemosh!

He has made his sons fugitives,

and his daughters captives,

to an Amorite king, Sihon.

³⁰So we overthrew them;

Heshbon, as far as ^cDibon, perished;

and we laid waste as far as Nophah;

fire spread as far as ^dMedeba.”⁷

King Og Defeated

³¹Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites. ³²And Moses sent to spy out ^eJazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there. 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 ^fat Edrei. ^34gBut 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 ^hyou shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.” ³⁵So they defeated him and his sons and all his people, until he had no survivor left. And they possessed his land.