Numbers 21
1 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.
The Canaanite [Descendant of Humbled], the king of Arad, who lived in the South, sh'ma ·heard obeyed· that Israel [God prevails] came by the way of Atharim. He fought against Israel [God prevails], and took some of them captive.
2 Then the Israelis solemnly vowed: “Yahweh, if you will help us to defeat these people, we will completely destroy all their towns.”
Israel [God prevails] vowed a vow to Adonai, and said, “If you will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.”
3 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’].
Adonai sh'ma ·heard obeyed· the voice of Israel [God prevails], and delivered up the Canaanites [Descendants of Humbled]; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. The name of the place was called Hormah.
4 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,
They traveled from Mount Hor by the way to the Sea of Suf [Reed Sea], to go around the land of Edom [Red] The soul of the people was very discouraged because of the journey.
5 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!”
The people spoke against God, and against Moses [Drawn out], “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt [Abode of slavery] to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul loathes this light bread.”
6 So Yahweh sent poisonous snakes among them. Many of the people were bitten by the snakes and died.
Adonai sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people. Many people of Israel [God prevails] died.
7 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.
The people came to Moses [Drawn out], and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against Adonai, and against you. Pray to Adonai, that he take away the serpents from us.” Moses [Drawn out] prayed for the people.
8 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).”
Adonai said to Moses [Drawn out], “Make a fiery serpent, and set it up on a pole. It shall happen, that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.”
9 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!
Moses [Drawn out] 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.
10 Then the Israelis traveled to Oboth and (camped/set up their tents) there.
The children of Israel [God prevails] traveled, and encamped in Oboth.
11 Then they left there, and went to Iye-Abarim, in the desert on the eastern border of Moab.
They traveled from Oboth, and encamped at Iyeabarim, in the wilderness which is before Moab [From father], toward the sunrise.
12 From there they traveled to the valley where the Zered riverbed is, and camped there.
From there they traveled, and encamped in the valley of Zered.
13 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.
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 [Descendants of Talkers]: for the Arnon is the border of Moab [From father], between Moab [From father] and the Amorites [Descendants of Talkers].
14 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]
Therefore it is said in the book of the Wars of Adonai, “Vaheb in Suphah, the valleys of the Arnon,
15 and the ravines there, which extend as far as Ar [village] on the border of Moab.”
the slope of the valleys that incline toward the dwelling of Ar, leans on the border of Moab [From father].”
16 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.”
From there they traveled to Beer; that is the well of which Adonai said to Moses [Drawn out], “Gather the people together, and I will give them water.”
17 There the Israelis sang this song: “O well, give us water! Sing about this well!
Then Israel [God prevails] sang this song: “Spring up, well! Sing to it,
18 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,
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 Nahaliel, and Bamoth [villages].
and from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth;
20 Then they went to the valley in Moab where Pisgah [Mountain] rises above the desert.
and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the field of Moab [From father], to the top of Pisgah, which looks down on the desert.
21 Then the Israelis sent messengers to Sihon, the king of the Amor people-group. This was the message [that they/we gave him]:
Israel [God prevails] sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites [Descendants of Talkers], saying,
22 “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.”
“Let me pass through your land. We will not turn aside into field, or into 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.”
23 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].
Sihon would not allow Israel [God prevails] to pass through his border, but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel [God prevails] into the wilderness, and came to Jahaz. He fought against Israel [God prevails].
24 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.
Israel [God prevails] struck him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, even to the children of Ammon [Tribal people]; for the border of the children of Ammon [Tribal people] was strong.
25 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.
Israel [God prevails] took all these cities. Israel [God prevails] lived in all the cities of the Amorites [Descendants of Talkers], in Heshbon, and in all its villages.
26 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].
For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites [Descendants of Talkers], who had fought against the former king of Moab [From father], and taken all his land out of his hand, even to the Arnon.
27 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.
Therefore those who speak in proverbs say, “Come to Heshbon. Let the city of Sihon be built and established;
28 A fire blazed from Heshbon; it burned down Ar [city] in Moab, it destroyed [everything on] the hills along the Arnon [River].
for a fire has gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon. It has devoured Ar of Moab [From father], The lords of the high places of the Arnon.
29 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.
Woe to you, Moab [From father]! You are undone, people of Chemosh! He has given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity, to Sihon king of the Amorites [Descendants of Talkers].
30 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].”
We have shot at them. Heshbon has perished even to Dibon. We have laid waste even to Nophah, Which reaches to Medeba.”
31 So the Israeli people began to live in the land where the Amor people-group lived.
Thus Israel [God prevails] lived in the land of the Amorites [Descendants of Talkers].
32 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.
Moses [Drawn out] sent to spy out Jazer. They took its villages, and drove out the Amorites [Descendants of Talkers] who were there.
33 Then they turned [north] toward the Bashan region, but King Og of Bashan and all his army attacked them at Edrei [town].
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 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.”
Adonai said to Moses [Drawn out], “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 [Descendants of Talkers], who lived at Heshbon.”
35 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.
So they struck him, with his sons and all his people, until there were no survivors; and they possessed his land.
