Revised
Standard Version of the Holy Bible
Numbers
Chapter 21 (Revised Standard Version)
Numbers 21
1 When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who dwelt in the Negeb, heard
that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel,
and took some of them captive.
2 And Israel vowed a vow to the LORD, and said, "If thou wilt
indeed give this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their
cities."
3 And the LORD hearkened to the voice of Israel, and gave over the
Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities; so the name
of the place was called Hormah.
4 From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around
the land of Edom; and the people became impatient on the way.
5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have
you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no
food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food."
6 Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit
the people, so that many people of Israel died.
7 And the people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, for
we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD, that he
take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people.
8 And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it
on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live."
9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a
serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
10 And the people of Israel set out, and encamped in Oboth.
11 And they set out from Oboth, and encamped at I'ye-ab'arim, in the
wilderness which is opposite Moab, toward the sunrise.
12 From there they set out, and encamped in the Valley of Zered.
13 From there they set out, and encamped on the other side of the
Arnon, which is in the wilderness, that extends from the boundary of the
Amorites; for the Arnon is the boundary of Moab, between Moab and the
Amorites.
14 Wherefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the LORD, "Waheb
in Suphah, and the valleys of the Arnon,
15 and the slope of the valleys that extends to the seat of Ar, and
leans to the border of Moab."
16 And from there they continued to Beer; that is the well of which
the LORD said to Moses, "Gather the people together, and I will give
them water."
17 Then Israel sang this song "Spring up, O well! -- Sing
to it! --
18 the well which the princes dug, which the nobles of the people
delved with the scepter and with their staves."
19 and from Mat'tanah to Nahal'iel, and from Nahal'iel to Bamoth,
20 and from Bamoth to the valley lying in the region of Moab by the
top of Pisgah which looks down upon the desert.
21 Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,
22 "Let me pass through your land; we will not turn aside into
field or vineyard; we will not drink the water of a well; we will go by
the King's Highway, until we have passed through your territory."
23 But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. He
gathered all his men together, and went out against Israel to the
wilderness, and came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel.
24 And Israel slew him with the edge of the sword, and took
possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as to the
Ammonites; for Jazer was the boundary of the Ammonites.
25 And Israel took all these cities, and Israel settled in all the
cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages.
26 For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who
had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land out of
his hand, as far as the Arnon.
27 Therefore the ballad singers say, "Come to Heshbon, let it be
built, let the city of Sihon be established.
28 For fire went forth from Heshbon, flame from the city of Sihon. It
devoured Ar of Moab, the lords of the heights of the Arnon.
29 Woe to you, O Moab! You are undone, O people of Chemosh! He has
made his sons fugitives, and his daughters captives, to an Amorite king,
Sihon.
30 So their posterity perished from Heshbon, as far as Dibon, and we
laid waste until fire spread to Med'eba."
31 Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites.
32 And Moses sent to spy out Jazer; and they took its villages, and
dispossessed the Amorites that were there.
33 Then they turned and went up by the way to Bashan; and Og the king
of Bashan came out against them, he and all his people, to battle at
Ed're-i.
34 But the LORD said to Moses, "Do not fear him; for I have
given him into your hand, and all his people, and his land; and you shall
do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon."
35 So they slew him, and his sons, and all his people, until there
was not one survivor left to him; and they possessed his land.
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