Victory over the Canaanites
1 The Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the South, heard that Israel came by the way of Atharim. He fought against Israel and took some of them captive. 2 Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.” 3 The Lord listened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. The name of the place was Hormah.
The Bronze Serpent
4 They traveled from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. The people became very discouraged because of the journey, 5 and they spoke against the Lord and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, there is no water, and we loathe this disgusting food!”
6 The Lord sent venomous snakes among the people, and they bit the people. Many people of Israel died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he would take the serpents away from us,” and Moses prayed for the people.
8 The Lord said to Moses, “Make a venomous snake and set it on a pole. It shall come to pass that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” 9 Moses made a serpent of bronze and set it on the pole. And it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked at the serpent of brass, he lived.
The Journey to Moab
10 The Israelites traveled on and encamped in Oboth. 11 They traveled from Oboth, and encamped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness which is before Moab, toward the sunrise. 12 From there they traveled, and encamped in the valley of Zered.
13 From there they traveled, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that comes out of the border of the Amorites, for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. 14 Therefore it is said in the book of the Wars of the Lord, “What he did in the Red sea and in the brooks of Arnon, 15 the slope of the valleys that incline toward the dwelling of Ar, leans on the border of Moab.”
16 From there they traveled 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, well! Sing to it,
18 the well, which the princes dug,
which the nobles of the people dug,
with the scepter and with their poles.”
From the wilderness they traveled to Mattanah, 19 and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, 20 and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the field of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looks down on the desert.
The Defeat of Sihon
21 Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, 22 “Let us pass through your land. We will not turn away into field or vineyard. We will not drink from the water of the wells. We will go by the king’s highway until we have passed your border.”
23 Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his border, but Sihon gathered all his people together and went out against Israel into the wilderness and came to Jahaz. He fought against Israel. 24 Israel struck him down by sword and possessed his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, to the children of Ammon, for the border of the children of Ammon was fortified. 25 Israel took all these cities. Israel lived 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, all the way to the Arnon river.
27 Therefore those who speak in proverbs say,
“Come to Heshbon.
Let the city of Sihon be built and established,
28 for a fire has gone out of Heshbon,
a flame from the city of Sihon.
It has devoured Ar of Moab,
The lords of the high places of the Arnon.
29 Woe to you, Moab!
You are undone, people of Chemosh!
He has given his sons as fugitives
and his daughters into captivity,
to Sihon king of the Amorites.
30 We have cast them down.
Heshbon has perished all the way to Dibon.
We have laid them waste as far as Nophah,
which reaches to Medeba.”
The Defeat of Og
31 Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites. 32 Moses sent men to spy out Jazer. They took its villages and drove out the Amorites who were there. 33 They turned and went up by the way of Bashan. Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.
34 The Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have delivered him into your hand, with all his people and his land. You shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.”
35 So they struck him, with his sons and all his people, until there were no survivors, and they possessed his land