Arad Destroyed
1When wthe Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in xthe Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive. 2yAnd Israel vowed a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed give this people into my hand, then I will devote their cities to destruction.”1 3And the Lord heeded the voice of Israel and gave over the Canaanites, and they devoted them and their cities to destruction. So the name of the place was called zHormah.2
The Bronze Serpent
4From Mount Hor athey set out by the way to the Red Sea, bto go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. 5And the people cspoke against God and against Moses, d“Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and ewe loathe this worthless food.” 6fThen the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and gthey bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7hAnd the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. iPray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9So jMoses made a bronze3 serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
The Song of the Well
10And the people of Israel set out and kcamped in Oboth. 11kAnd they set out from Oboth and kcamped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness that is opposite Moab, toward the sunrise. 12From there they set out and camped in lthe Valley of Zered. 13From there they set out and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites, for the mArnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. 14Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord,
“Waheb in Suphah, and the valleys of the Arnon,
15and the slope of the valleys
that extends to the seat of nAr,
and leans to the border of Moab.”
16And from there they continued oto Beer;4 that is the well of which the Lord said to Moses, “Gather the people together, so that pI may give them water.” 17Then Israel sang this song:
“Spring up, O well!—Sing to it!—
18the well that the princes made,
that the nobles of the people dug,
with qthe scepter and with their staffs.”
And from the wilderness they went on to Mattanah, 19and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, 20and from Bamoth to the valley lying in the region of Moab by the top of Pisgah rthat looks down on the desert.5
King Sihon Defeated
21Then sIsrael sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, 22t“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.” 23uBut Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. He gathered all his people together and went out against Israel to the wilderness and vcame to Jahaz and fought against Israel. 24wAnd Israel defeated him with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the xJabbok, as far as to the Ammonites, for the border of the Ammonites was strong. 25And Israel took all these cities, and Israel settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages. 26For 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. 27Therefore the yballad singers say,
“Come to zHeshbon, let it be built;
let the city of Sihon be established.
28For afire came out from zHeshbon,
flame from the city of Sihon.
It devoured nAr of Moab,
and swallowed6 the heights of the Arnon.
29aWoe to you, O Moab!
You are undone, O people of bChemosh!
He has made his sons fugitives,
and his daughters captives,
to an Amorite king, Sihon.
30So we overthrew them;
Heshbon, as far as cDibon, perished;
and we laid waste as far as Nophah;
fire spread as far as dMedeba.”7
King Og Defeated
31Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites. 32And Moses sent to spy out eJazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there. 33Then 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 fat Edrei. 34gBut 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 hyou shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.” 35So they defeated him and his sons and all his people, until he had no survivor left. And they possessed his land.
Footnotes
- 1 21:2 That is, set apart (devote) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verse 3
- 2 21:3 Hormah means destruction
- 3 21:9 Or copper
- 4 21:16 Beer means well
- 5 21:20 Or Jeshimon
- 6 21:28 Septuagint; Hebrew the lords of
- 7 21:30 Compare Samaritan and Septuagint; Hebrew and we laid waste as far as Nophah, which is as far as Medeba
The Partial Kingdom: God’s Place
Numbers 1:1 – Joshua 24:33 Sermon • Includes Transcript • 45:22 • ID: 2388Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.