Battle with Amalek. ⁸ Then Amalek^[a] came and waged war against Israel in Rephidim.^{(A) 9} So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some men for us, and tomorrow go out and engage Amalek in battle. I will be standing on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” ¹⁰ Joshua did as Moses told him: he engaged Amalek in battle while Moses, Aaron, and Hur climbed to the top of the hill. ¹¹ As long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel had the better of the fight, but when he let his hands rest, Amalek had the better of the fight. ¹² Moses’ hands, however, grew tired; so they took a rock and put it under him and he sat on it. Meanwhile Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other, so that his hands remained steady until sunset. ¹³ And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the sword.

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses: Write this down in a book as something to be remembered, and recite it to Joshua:^(B) I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. ¹⁵ Moses built an altar there, which he named Yahweh-nissi;^{[b] 16} for he said, “Take up the banner of the Lord!^[c] The Lord has a war against Amalek through the ages.”

Chapter 21

Victory over Arad. ¹ When the Canaanite, the king of Arad,^[a] who ruled over the Negeb,^(A) heard that the Israelites were coming along the way of Atharim, he engaged Israel in battle and took some of them captive. ² Israel then made this vow to the Lord: “If you deliver this people into my hand, I will put their cities under the ban.”^{(B) 3} The Lord paid attention to Israel and delivered up the Canaanites,^(C) and they put them and their cities under the ban. Hence that place was named Hormah.^[b]

Victory over Sihon. ²¹ Now Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, with the message, ²² “Let us pass through your land. We will not turn aside into any field or vineyard, nor will we drink any well water, but we will go straight along the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.” ²³ Sihon,^(A) however, would not permit Israel to pass through his territory, but mustered all his forces and advanced against Israel into the wilderness. When he reached Jahaz, he engaged Israel in battle. ²⁴ But Israel put him to the sword, and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and as far as Jazer of the Ammonites, for Jazer is the boundary of the Ammonites. ^25 (B)Israel seized all the towns here, and Israel settled in all the towns of the Amorites, in Heshbon and all its dependencies. ²⁶ For 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 him as far as the Arnon. ²⁷ That is why the poets say:

³¹ So Israel settled in the land of the Amorites. ³² Moses sent spies to Jazer; and the Israelites captured it with its dependencies and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.

Victory over Og. ^33 (C)Then they turned and went up along the road to Bashan. But Og, king of Bashan, advanced against them with all his forces to give battle at Edrei. ³⁴ The Lord, however, said to Moses: Do not fear him; for into your hand I deliver him with all his forces and his land. You will do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.^{(D) 35} So they struck him down with his sons and all his forces, until not a survivor was left to him, and they took possession of his land.

Chapter 31

Campaign Against the Midianites. ¹ The Lord said to Moses:^{[a] 2} Avenge the Israelites on the Midianites, and then you will be gathered to your people. ³ So Moses told the people, “Arm some men among you for the campaign, to attack Midian and to execute the Lord’s vengeance on Midian. ⁴ From each of the tribes of Israel you will send a thousand men to the campaign.” ⁵ From the contingents of Israel, therefore, a thousand men of each tribe were levied, so that there were twelve thousand men armed for war. ⁶ Moses sent them out on the campaign, a thousand from each tribe, with Phinehas, son of Eleazar, the priest for the campaign, who had with him the sacred vessels and the trumpets for sounding the alarm. ⁷ They waged war against the Midianites, as the Lord had commanded Moses, and killed every male. ⁸ Besides those slain in battle, they killed the kings of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian;^[b] and they also killed Balaam, son of Beor, with the sword. ⁹ But the Israelites took captive the women of the Midianites with their children, and all their herds and flocks and wealth as loot, ¹⁰ while they set on fire all the towns where they had settled and all their encampments. ¹¹ Then they took all the plunder, with the people and animals they had captured, and brought the captives, together with the spoils and plunder, ¹² to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the Israelite community at their camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.

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