²¹The Israelites sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying, ²²“Let us pass through your country. We will not go through any fields of grain or vineyards, or drink water from the wells. We will travel only along the king’s road until we have passed through your country.”

²³But King Sihon would not let the Israelites pass through his country. He gathered his whole army together, and they marched out to meet Israel in the desert. At Jahaz they fought the Israelites. ²⁴Israel killed the king and captured his land from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River. They took the land as far as the Ammonite border, which was strongly defended. ²⁵Israel captured all the Amorite cities and lived in them, taking Heshbon and all the towns around it. ²⁶Heshbon was the city where Sihon, the Amorite king, lived. In the past he had fought with the king of Moab and had taken all the land as far as the Arnon.

²⁷That is why the poets say:

“Come to Heshbon

and rebuild it;

rebuild Sihon’s city.

²⁸A fire began in Heshbon;

flames came from Sihon’s city.

It destroyed Ar in Moab,

and it burned the Arnon highlands.

²⁹How terrible for you, Moab!

The people of Chemosh are ruined.

His sons ran away

and his daughters were captured

by Sihon, king of the Amorites.

³⁰But we defeated those Amorites.

We ruined their towns from Heshbon to Dibon,

and we destroyed them as far as Nophah, near Medeba.”

³¹So Israel lived in the land of the Amorites.

³²After Moses sent spies to the town of Jazer, they captured the towns around it, forcing out the Amorites who lived there.

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