Numbers 21 New American Standard Bible

Arad Conquered

21 When the Canaanite, the king of ^(A)Arad, who lived in the ^[a]Negev, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them captive. ²So ^(B)Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, “If You will indeed hand over this people to me, then I will ^[b]utterly destroy their cities.” ³The Lord heard the voice of Israel and turned over the Canaanites; then they ^[c]utterly destroyed them and their cities. And the place was named ^[d]^(C)Hormah.

⁴Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the ^[e]Red Sea, to ^(D)go around the land of Edom; and the ^[f]people became impatient because of the journey. ⁵So the people spoke against God and Moses: “^(E)Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no ^[g]food and no water, and ^[h]^(F)we are disgusted with ^[i]this miserable food.”

The Bronze Serpent

⁶^(G)Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and ^(H)they bit the people, so that ^(I)many people of Israel died. ⁷^(J)So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and against you; ^(K)intercede with the Lord, that He will remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. ⁸Then the Lord said to Moses, “^[j]Make a ^(L)fiery serpent, and put it on a flag pole; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, and looks at it, will live.” ⁹So Moses made a ^(M)bronze serpent and put it on the flag pole; and it came about, that if a serpent bit someone, and he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

¹⁰^(N)Now the sons of Israel moved out and camped in Oboth. ¹¹Then they journeyed from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness which is opposite Moab, to the ^[k]east. ¹²^(O)From there they set out and camped in ^[l]Wadi Zered. ¹³From there they journeyed and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that comes out of the border of the Amorites; ^(P)for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. ¹⁴For that reason it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord,

“Waheb in Suphah,
And the ^[m]wadis of the Arnon,
¹⁵And the slope of the wadis
That extends to the site of ^(Q)Ar,
And leans to the border of Moab.”

¹⁶^(R)From there they continued to ^[n]Beer, that is the well where the Lord said to Moses, “Assemble the people, that I may give them water.”

¹⁷^(S)Then Israel sang this song:

“Spring up, O well! Sing to it!
¹⁸The well, which the leaders dug,
Which the nobles of the people hollowed out,
With the scepter and with their staffs.”

And from the wilderness they continued to Mattanah, ¹⁹and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, ²⁰and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the land of Moab, at the top of Pisgah, which overlooks the ^[o]desert.

Two Victories

²¹^(T)Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying, ²²“^(U)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^(V)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 ^(W)Jahaz and fought against Israel. ²⁴Then ^(X)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 ^(Y)border of the sons of Ammon was ^[p]Jazer. ²⁵Israel took all these cities, and ^(Z)Israel lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and in all her ^[q]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 out of his hand, as far as the Arnon. ²⁷For that reason those who use proverbs say,

“Come to Heshbon! Let it be built!
So let the city of Sihon be established.
²⁸^(AA)For a fire spread from Heshbon,
A flame from the town of Sihon;
It devoured ^(AB)Ar of Moab,
The ^[r]^(AC)dominant ^[s]heights of the Arnon.
²⁹^(AD)Woe to you, Moab!
You are destroyed, people of ^(AE)Chemosh!
^(AF)He has given his sons as fugitives,
^(AG)And his daughters into captivity,
To an Amorite king, Sihon.
³⁰But we have shot them down with arrows,
Heshbon is destroyed as far as ^(AH)Dibon,
Then we have laid waste as far as Nophah,
Which reaches to Medeba.”

³¹So Israel lived in the land of the Amorites. ³²Now Moses sent men to spy out ^(AI)Jazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.

³³^(AJ)Then they turned and went up by the way of Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan went out against them ^[t]with all his people, for battle at ^(AK)Edrei. ³⁴But the Lord said to Moses, “^(AL)Do not fear him, for I have handed him over to you, and all his people and his land; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.” ³⁵So ^(AM)they ^[u]killed him and his sons and all his people, until there was no survivor left; and they took possession of his land.