Amorite Kings Defeated

²¹ Israel sent messengers to say to King Sihon^(A) of the Amorites, ²² “Let us travel through your land. We won’t go into the fields or vineyards. We won’t drink any well water. We will travel the King’s Highway until we have traveled through your territory.”^{(B) 23} But Sihon would not let Israel travel through his territory. Instead, he gathered his whole army and went out to confront Israel in the wilderness. When he came to Jahaz,^(C) he fought against Israel. ²⁴ Israel struck him with the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok,^(D) but only up to the Ammonite border, because it was fortified.^[a]

²⁵ Israel took all the cities and lived in all these Amorite cities, including Heshbon and all its surrounding villages.

³⁴ But the Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have handed him over to you along with his whole army and his land. Do to him as you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.”^(A)

Defeat of Sihon the Amorite

²⁴ “The Lord also said, ‘Get up, move out, and cross the Arnon Valley. See, I have handed the Amorites’ King Sihon of Heshbon and his land over to you. Begin to take possession of it; engage^[a] him in battle.^(A)

³⁰ But King Sihon of Heshbon would not let us travel through his land, for the Lord your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to hand him over to you, as has now taken place.^(A)

² King Sihon of the Amorites lived in Heshbon. He ruled from Aroer^(A) on the rim of the Arnon River, along the middle of the valley, and half of Gilead up to the Jabbok River (the border of the Ammonites^(B)),

²⁶ While Israel lived three hundred years in Heshbon and Aroer and their surrounding villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, why didn’t you take them back at that time?