Two Victories

^21 (A)Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying, ²² “^(B)Let 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 road until we have passed through your border.” ^23 (C)But Sihon would not permit Israel to pass through his border. Instead, Sihon gathered all his people and went out against Israel in the wilderness, and came to ^(D)Jahaz and fought against Israel. ²⁴ Then ^(E)Israel struck 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 ^(F)border of the sons of Ammon was ^[a]Jazer. ²⁵ Israel took all these cities, and ^(G)Israel lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and in all her ^[b]villages. 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 out of his hand, as far as the Arnon.

²⁶ “^(A)So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, ²⁷ ‘Let me pass through your land; I will ^[a]travel only on the road. I will not turn aside to the right or to the left. ²⁸ You will sell me food for money so that I may eat, and give me water for money so that I may drink, ^(B)only let me pass through on ^[b]foot, ²⁹ just as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in ^(C)Ar did for me, until I cross over the Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is giving us.’ ³⁰ But ^(D)Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass ^[c]through his land; for the ^(E)Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to hand him over to you, as he is today. ³¹ And the Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to turn Sihon and his land over ^[d]to you. Begin taking possession, so that you may possess his land.’

³² “Then Sihon came out ^[e]with all his people to meet us in battle at Jahaz. ³³ And ^(F)the Lord our God turned him over ^[f]to us, and we ^[g](G)defeated him with his sons and all his people. ³⁴ So we captured all his cities at that time and ^[h](H)utterly destroyed ^[i]the men, women, and children of every city. We left no survivor. ³⁵ We took ^(I)only the animals as our plunder, and the spoils of the cities which we had captured.

¹⁰ and all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, as far as the border of the sons of Ammon;