Numbers 21
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.
The king of Arad [city] lived in the area where the Canaan people-group lived, in the desert in the southern part of the land. He heard a report that the Israelis were approaching on the road to Atharim [village]. So his army attacked the Israelis and captured some of them.
2 Israel vowed a vow to Yahweh, and said, “If you will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.”
Then the Israelis solemnly vowed: “Yahweh, if you will help us to defeat these people, we will completely destroy all their towns.”
3 Yahweh 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 called Hormah.
Yahweh heard what they requested, and he enabled them to defeat the army of the Canaan people-group. The Israeli soldiers killed all the people and destroyed their towns. [Ever since that time], that place has been called Hormah [which means ‘destruction’].
4 They traveled from Mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. The soul of the people was very discouraged because of the journey.
Then the Israelis left Hor Mountain and traveled on the road towards the Red Sea, in order to go around [the land of] Edom. But the people became impatient along the way,
5 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 bread, there is no water, and our soul loathes this disgusting food!”
and they began to grumble/complain against God and against Moses/me. They said, “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in this desert [RHQ]? There is nothing to eat here, and nothing to drink. And we detest this lousy [manna] food!”
6 Yahweh sent venomous snakes among the people, and they bit the people. Many people of Israel died.
So Yahweh sent poisonous snakes among them. Many of the people were bitten by the snakes and died.
7 The people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against Yahweh and against you. Pray to Yahweh, that he take away the serpents from us.” Moses prayed for the people.
Then the people came to Moses/me and cried out, saying, “We [now know that we] have sinned against Yahweh and against you. Pray to Yahweh, asking that he will take away the snakes!” So Moses/I prayed for the people.
8 Yahweh said to Moses, “Make a venomous snake, and set it on a pole. It shall happen that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.”
Then Yahweh told him/me, “Make a model/image of a poisonous snake, and attach it to the top of a pole. If those who are bitten by the snakes look at that model, they will (recover/get well).”
9 Moses made a serpent of bronze, and set it on the pole. If a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked at the serpent of bronze, he lived.
So Moses/I made a snake from bronze and attached it to the top of a pole. Then, when those who had been bitten by a snake looked at the bronze snake, they recovered!
10 The children of Israel traveled, and encamped in Oboth.
Then the Israelis traveled to Oboth and (camped/set up their tents) there.
11 They traveled from Oboth, and encamped at Iyeabarim, in the wilderness which is before Moab, toward the sunrise.
Then they left there, and went to Iye-Abarim, in the desert on the eastern border of Moab.
12 From there they traveled, and encamped in the valley of Zered.
From there they traveled to the valley where the Zered riverbed is, and camped there.
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.
Then they traveled to the north side of the Arnon [River]. That area is in the desert next to the land where the Amor people-group lived. The Arnon [River] is the boundary between Moab and where the Amor people-group lived.
14 Therefore it is said in The Book of the Wars of Yahweh, “Vaheb in Suphah, the valleys of the Arnon,
That is why in the book called ‘The Book of the Wars of Yahweh’ it tells about “Waheb [town] in the Suphah area, and the ravines there; and the Arnon [River]
15 the slope of the valleys that incline toward the dwelling of Ar, leans on the border of Moab.”
and the ravines there, which extend as far as Ar [village] on the border of Moab.”
16 From there they traveled to Beer; that is the well of which Yahweh said to Moses, “Gather the people together, and I will give them water.”
From there, the Israelis traveled to Beer. There was a well there, where Yahweh previously had said to Moses/me, “Gather the people together, and I will give them water.”
17 Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, well! Sing to it,
There the Israelis sang this song: “O well, give us water! Sing about this well!
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;
Sing about this well which our leaders dug; they dug out [the dirt] with their royal scepters and their walking sticks.” Then the Israelis left that desert and went through Mattanah,
19 and from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth;
Nahaliel, and Bamoth [villages].
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.
Then they went to the valley in Moab where Pisgah [Mountain] rises above the desert.
21 Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,
Then the Israelis sent messengers to Sihon, the king of the Amor people-group. This was the message [that they/we gave him]:
22 “Let me pass through your land. We will not turn away into field or vineyard. We will not drink of the water of the wells. We will go by the king’s highway, until we have passed your border.”
“Allow us to travel through your country. We will stay on the king’s highway, [the main road that goes from the south to the north], until we have finished traveling through your land. We will not walk through any field or vineyard, or drink water from your wells.”
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.
But King Sihon refused. He would not allow them to walk through his land. Instead, he sent his whole army to attack the Israelis in the desert. They attacked the Israelis at Jahaz [village].
24 Israel struck him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, even to the children of Ammon; for the border of the children of Ammon was fortified.
But the Israelis completely defeated them and occupied their land, from the Arnon [River in the south] to the Jabbok [River in the north]. They stopped at the border of the land where the Ammon people-group lived, because [the Ammon army was defending] the border strongly.
25 Israel took all these cities. Israel lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages.
So the Israelis occupied all the cities and towns where the Amor people-group lived, and some of the Israelis began to live in them. They occupied Heshbon [city] and the nearby 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, even to the Arnon.
Heshbon was the capital of the country. It was the city where King Sihon ruled. His army had previously defeated the army of the king of Moab, and then his people had begun to live in all of the land of Moab as far as the Arnon [River in the south].
27 Therefore those who speak in proverbs say, “Come to Heshbon. Let the city of Sihon be built and established;
For that reason, one of the poets wrote long ago, “Come to Heshbon, the city where King Sihon [ruled]. We want the city to be restored/rebuilt.
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.
A fire blazed from Heshbon; it burned down Ar [city] in Moab, it destroyed [everything on] the hills along the Arnon [River].
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.
You people of Moab, terrible things have happened to you! You people who [worship your god] Chemosh have been (annihilated/wiped out)! The men who [worshiped] [MET] Chemosh have run away and are now refugees, and the women [who worshiped him] have been captured by [the army of] Sihon, the king of the Amor people-group.
30 We have shot at them. Heshbon has perished even to Dibon. We have laid waste even to Nophah, Which reaches to Medeba.”
But we have defeated [Sihon and] those descendants of Amor, all the way from Heshbon [in the north] to Dibon [city in the south]. We have completely obliterated/destroyed them as far as Nophah and Medeba [towns].”
31 Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites.
So the Israeli people began to live in the land where the Amor people-group lived.
32 Moses sent to spy out Jazer. They took its villages, and drove out the Amorites who were there.
After Moses/I sent some men to explore the area near Jazer [city], Israeli people began to live in all the towns in that region and expelled the Amor people-group who lived 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.
Then they turned [north] toward the Bashan region, but King Og of Bashan and all his army attacked them at Edrei [town].
34 Yahweh said to Moses, “Don’t 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.”
Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Do not be afraid of Og, because I am going to enable your men to defeat him and his army, and to take possession of all his land. You will do to him what you did to Sihon, the king of the Amor people-group, who ruled in Heshbon.”
35 So they struck him, with his sons and all his people, until there were no survivors; and they possessed his land.
And that is what happened. We Israelis defeated Og’s army, and killed King Og and his sons and all his people. Not a person survived! And then we Israelis began to live in their land.
