Numbers 21:21–35

Two Victories

^21aThen 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.”

^23aBut 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.

²⁴Then ^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.

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

²⁶For 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.

²⁷Therefore 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.”

³¹Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites.

³²Moses sent to spy out ^aJazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.

^33aThen 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.

³⁴But 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.”

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