Numbers 20–21

Moses’ Error at Kadesh

20Then ^athe children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in ^bKadesh; and ^cMiriam died there and was buried there.

^2dNow there was no water for the congregation; ^eso they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. ³And the people ^fcontended with Moses and spoke, saying: “If only we had died ^gwhen our brethren died before the Lord! ^4hWhy have you brought up the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our animals should die here? ⁵And why have you made us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink.” ⁶So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and ⁱthey ¹fell on their faces. And ^jthe glory of the Lord appeared to them.

⁷Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^8k“Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus ^lyou shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” ⁹So Moses took the rod ^mfrom before the Lord as He commanded him.

¹⁰And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, ⁿ“Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” ¹¹Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; ^oand water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.

¹²Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because ^pyou did not believe Me, to ^qhallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

^13rThis was the water of ²Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the Lord, and He was hallowed among them.

Passage Through Edom Refused

^14sNow Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of ^tEdom. ^u“Thus says your brother Israel: ‘You know all the hardship that has befallen us, ^15vhow our fathers went down to Egypt, ^wand we dwelt in Egypt a long time, ^xand the Egyptians ³afflicted us and our fathers. ^16yWhen we cried out to the Lord, He heard our voice and ^zsent the Angel and brought us up out of Egypt; now here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your border. ¹⁷Please ^alet us pass through your country. We will not pass through fields or vineyards, nor will we drink water from wells; 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.’ ”

¹⁸Then ^bEdom said to him, “You shall not pass through my land, lest I come out against you with the sword.”

¹⁹So the children of Israel said to him, “We will go by the Highway, and if I or my livestock drink any of your water, ^cthen I will pay for it; let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.”

²⁰Then he said, ^d“You shall not pass through.” So Edom came out against them with many men and with a strong hand. ²¹Thus Edom ^erefused to give Israel passage through his territory; so Israel ^fturned away from him.

Death of Aaron

²²Now the children of Israel, the whole congregation, journeyed from ^gKadesh ^hand came to Mount Hor. ²³And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying: ²⁴“Aaron shall ⁴be ⁱgathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against My word at the water of Meribah. ^25jTake 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; for Aaron shall be gathered to his people and die there.” ²⁷So Moses did just as the Lord commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. ^28kMoses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; and ^lAaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. ²⁹Now when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, all the house of Israel mourned for Aaron ^mthirty days.

Canaanites Defeated at Hormah

21The ^aking of Arad, the Canaanite, who dwelt in the South, heard that Israel was coming on the road to Atharim. Then he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoners. ^2bSo Israel made a vow to the Lord, and said, “If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then ^cI will utterly destroy their cities.” ³And the Lord listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of that place was called ¹Hormah.

The Bronze Serpent

⁴Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to ^dgo around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very ²discouraged on the way. ⁵And the people ^espoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul ³loathes this worthless bread.” ⁶So ^fthe Lord sent ^gfiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.

^7hTherefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have ⁱsinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; ^jpray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

⁸Then the Lord said to Moses, ^k“Make a ^lfiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” ⁹So ^mMoses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

From Mount Hor to Moab

¹⁰Now the children of Israel moved on and ⁿcamped in Oboth. ¹¹And they journeyed from Oboth and camped at ⁴Ije Abarim, in the wilderness which is east of Moab, toward the sunrise. ^12oFrom there they moved and camped in the Valley of Zered. ¹³From there they moved and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites; for ^pthe Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. ¹⁴Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord:

⁵“Waheb in Suphah,

The brooks of the Arnon,

¹⁵And the slope of the brooks

That reaches to the dwelling of ^qAr,

And lies on the border of Moab.”

¹⁶From there they went ^rto Beer, which is the well where the Lord said to Moses, “Gather the people together, and I will give them water.” ^17sThen Israel sang this song:

“Spring up, O well!

All of you sing to it—

¹⁸The well the leaders sank,

Dug by the nation’s nobles,

By the ^tlawgiver, with their staves.”

And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah, ¹⁹from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth, ²⁰and from Bamoth, in the valley that is in the ⁶country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah which looks ^udown on the ⁷wasteland.

King Sihon Defeated

²¹Then ^vIsrael sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, ^22w“Let me pass through your land. We will not turn aside into fields or vineyards; we will not drink water from wells. We will go by the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.” ^23xBut Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his people together and ⁸went out against Israel in the wilderness, ^yand he came to Jahaz and fought against Israel. ²⁴Then ^zIsrael defeated him with the edge of the sword, and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the people of Ammon; for the border of the people of Ammon was fortified. ²⁵So Israel took all these cities, and Israel ^adwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and in all its villages. 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 from his hand as far as the Arnon. ²⁷Therefore those who speak in ⁹proverbs say:

“Come to Heshbon, let it be built;

Let the city of Sihon be repaired.

²⁸“For ^bfire went out from Heshbon,

A flame from the city of Sihon;

It consumed ^cAr of Moab,

The lords of the ^dheights of the Arnon.

²⁹Woe to you, ^eMoab!

You have perished, O people of ^fChemosh!

He has given his ^gsons as fugitives,

And his ^hdaughters into captivity,

To Sihon king of the Amorites.

³⁰“But we have shot at them;

Heshbon has perished ⁱas far as Dibon.

Then we laid waste as far as Nophah,

Which reaches to ^jMedeba.”

³¹Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. ³²Then Moses sent to ¹spy out ^kJazer; and they took its villages and drove out the Amorites who were there.

King Og Defeated

^33lAnd they turned and went up by the way to ^mBashan. So Og king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to battle ⁿat Edrei. ³⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, ^o“Do not fear him, for I have ²delivered him into your hand, with all his people and his land; and ^pyou shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.” ^35qSo they defeated him, his sons, and all his people, until there was no survivor left him; and they took possession of his land.