Nombres 21

Victory at Hormah

¹When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the Atharim road, he attacked Israel and took some of them prisoner.^{a 2}Then Israel made a vow to the LORD: “If you will truly hand this people over to us, we will devote their towns to destruction.” ³The LORD listened to Israel’s plea and handed the Canaanites over, and Israel devoted them and their towns to destruction. So the place was named Hormah.

The bronze snake

⁴They set out from Mount Hor along the road to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom, and on the way the people lost patience. ⁵The people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no food and no water, and we are sick of this pitiful food!” ⁶Then the LORD sent fiery snakes among the people. They bit the people, and many Israelites died. ⁷The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD to take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. ⁸The LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery snake and put it up on a pole. Anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” ⁹So Moses made a bronze snake and set it on the pole. Whenever a snake had bitten someone, and that person looked at the bronze snake, they lived. ¹⁰The Israelites moved on and camped at Oboth. ¹¹They set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness that faces Moab on the east. ¹²From there they moved on and camped in the Zered Valley. ¹³From there they moved on and camped on the far side of the Arnon, in the wilderness that reaches out from the Amorite border. The Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. ¹⁴That is why it is said in the Book of the Wars of the LORD: \q “Waheb in Suphah, \q and the valleys of the Arnon,^{bc 15}and the slope of the valleys \q that stretches toward the town of Ar \q and lies along the border of Moab.” ¹⁶From there they went on to Beer. That is the well where the LORD said to Moses, “Gather the people together, and I will give them water.”

The song of the well

¹⁷Then Israel sang this song: \q “Spring up, well! Sing out to it! ¹⁸the well that princes dug, that the nobles of the people dug out \q with a scepter and with their staffs.” \q From the wilderness they went on to Mattanah, ¹⁹from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth, ²⁰and from Bamoth to the valley in the country of Moab, by the top of Pisgah, which looks down over the wasteland of Jeshimon.

Victory over Sihon and Og

²¹Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites with this message: ²²“Let us pass through your land. We will not turn off into any field or vineyard, and we will not drink water from any well. We will keep to the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.” ²³But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. He gathered all his forces and marched out into the wilderness against Israel. When he reached Jahaz, he fought against Israel. ²⁴Israel defeated him in battle and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the Ammonites, for the Ammonite border was strongly held.^{d 25}Israel took all these towns and settled in all the towns of the Amorites, in Heshbon and all its villages. ²⁶Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites. He had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land from him, as far as the Arnon. ²⁷That is why the poets say, “Come to Heshbon! \q Let the city of Sihon be rebuilt and made strong again!^{e 28}For fire went out from Heshbon, \q a flame from the city of Sihon. \q It burned up Ar of Moab, \q the lords of the heights of the Arnon.^{f 29}How terrible for you, Moab! \q You are destroyed, people of Chemosh! \q He has let his sons become refugees and his daughters captives \q of Sihon king of the Amorites. ³⁰But we shot at them; Heshbon is destroyed as far as Dibon. \q We laid the land waste as far as Nophah, \q which reaches to Medeba.”^{g 31}So Israel settled in the land of the Amorites. ³²Moses sent men to scout out Jazer, and they captured its villages and drove out the Amorites who lived there. ³³Then they turned and went up along the road to Bashan, and Og king of Bashan marched out against them with all his army to fight at Edrei. ³⁴The LORD said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you, with all his army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon.” ³⁵So they struck down Og, his sons and all his army, until not one survivor was left, and they took possession of his land.