Numbers 21
1 When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was traveling by the road to 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 to Yahweh and said, “If you give us victory over these people, then we will completely 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 Israel's voice and he gave them victory over the Canaanites. They completely destroyed them and their cities. That 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 road to the Sea of Reeds to go around the land of Edom. The people became very discouraged on the way.
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 Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread, no water, and we hate this miserable 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 Then Yahweh sent poisonous snakes among the people. The snakes bit the people; many people 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 you. Pray to Yahweh for him to take the snakes away from us.” So 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 snake and attach it to a pole. It will happen that everyone who is bitten will survive, if he looks at it.”
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 So Moses made a bronze snake and attached it to a pole. When a snake bit any person, if he looked at the bronze snake, he survived.
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 Then the people of Israel traveled on and camped at Oboth.
Then the Israelis traveled to Oboth and (camped/set up their tents) there.
11 They traveled from Oboth and camped at Iye Abarim in the wilderness that faces Moab toward the east.
Then they left there, and went to Iye-Abarim, in the desert on the eastern border of Moab.
12 From there they traveled on and camped 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 on and camped on the other side of the Arnon River, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites. The Arnon River forms 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 That is why it says in the scroll of the Wars of Yahweh, “... Waheb in Suphah, and 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 lead toward the town of Ar and lie along 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, the well where Yahweh said to Moses, “Gather the people together for me to 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 about it,
There the Israelis sang this song: “O well, give us water! Sing about this well!
18 about the well that our leaders dug, the well the nobles of the people dug, with the scepter and their staffs.” Then 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 From Mattanah they traveled to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,
Nahaliel, and Bamoth [villages].
20 and from Bamoth to a valley in the land of Moab. That is where the top of Mount Pisgah looks down on the wilderness.
Then they went to the valley in Moab where Pisgah [Mountain] rises above the desert.
21 Then 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 us pass through your land. We will not turn into any field or vineyard. We will not drink the water from your wells. We will travel by the king's highway until we have crossed 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 But King Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through their border. Instead, Sihon gathered all his army together and attacked Israel in the wilderness. He came to Jahaz, where 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 attacked the army of Sihon with the edge of the sword and took their land from the Arnon to the Jabbok river, as far as the land of the people of Ammon. Now the border of the people 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 the Amorite cities and lived in all of them, including Heshbon and all of 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 Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab. Sihon had taken all his land from his territory to the Arnon River.
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 That is why those who speak in proverbs say, “Come to Heshbon. Let the city of Sihon be rebuilt and established again.
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 A fire blazed from Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon that devoured Ar of Moab, and the owners of the high places of 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 have perished, people of Chemosh. He has made his sons to be fugitives and his daughters to be prisoners of 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 But we have conquered Sihon. Heshbon is devastated all the way to Dibon. We have defeated them all the way 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 So Israel began to live in the Amorites' land.
So the Israeli people began to live in the land where the Amor people-group lived.
32 Then Moses sent men to look at 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 Then they turned and went up by the road of Bashan. Og king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his army, to fight them 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 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Do not fear him, because I have given you victory over him, all his army, and his land. 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 killed him, his sons, and all his army, until none of his people were left alive. Then they took over 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.
