¹Now King Arad the Canaanite, who lived in the south, heard that Israel was coming by the route of Atharim, and he waged war against Israel, and he took some of them prisoner. ²Then Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you decisively deliver this people into our hands, then we will destroy their cities.” ³And the Lord heeded Israel, and he delivered up the Canaanites, and they destroyed them and their cities, and they named the place Hormah. ⁴Then they moved from Mount Hor by the route of the Red Sea, to go round the land of Edom, but the people became impatient on the way. ⁵And the people spoke against God and Moses, saying, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt for us to die in the desert? For there is no bread and no water, and our being loathes this insubstantial bread.” ⁶At this the Lord sent fiery serpents on the people, and they bit the people, and many people of Israel died. ⁷Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that he removes the serpents from us.” And Moses prayed for the people. ⁸Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make yourself a fiery serpent and put it on a standard, and it will come to pass that everyone who has been bitten but who looks at it, will live.” ⁹So Moses made a copper serpent and put it on the standard, and it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten a man, and he beheld the copper serpent, he lived. ¹⁰Then the sons of Israel moved on and encamped at Oboth. ¹¹Then they moved on from Oboth and encamped at the ruins of Abarim in the desert which is alongside Moab, towards the sunrise. ¹²From there they moved on and encamped at the Brook of Zered. ¹³From there they moved on and encamped at the other side of the Arnon, which is in the desert, which comes out of the territory of the Amorites, for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. ¹⁴This is why it relates in the Book of the Wars of the Lord,

“Vaheb in the whirlwind

And the brooks of Arnon,

¹⁵And the outpouring of the brooks,

Which turns to the dwelling of Ar

And adjoins the border of Moab.”

¹⁶And from there they moved to Beer, which is the well where the Lord said to Moses, “Gather the people and I will give them water.” ¹⁷Then Israel sang this song:

“Spring up, O well;

Sing in response to it.

¹⁸As for the well, princes dug it;

The nobles of the people excavated it,

With lawgivers with their staffs.”

And they moved from the desert to Mattanah. ¹⁹Then they moved from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, ²⁰and from the Valley of Bamoth which is in the open country of Moab to the summit of Pisgah, which overlooks the landscape of Jeshimon. ²¹Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites and said, ²²“We would like to cross your country. We will not deviate through field or vineyard, and we will not drink well-water, but we will go by the royal road, until we have crossed your territory.” ²³But Sihon did not allow Israel to cross his territory, and Sihon gathered all his people, and he went out against Israel into the desert. And he went to Jahaz and fought against Israel. ²⁴But Israel struck him by the blade of the sword, and he came into possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, up to the sons of Ammon, for the territory of the sons of Ammon was strongly held. ²⁵So Israel took all these cities, and Israel lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and all its satellite towns. ²⁶For Heshbon is the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, and he had fought against the first king of Moab, and he had taken all his land from his control as far as the Arnon. ²⁷This is why those who speak in proverbs say,

“Come to Heshbon;

The city of Sihon

Will be built up and established.

²⁸For fire went out from Heshbon;

A flame from the town of Sihon.

It consumed Ar of Moab

And the lords of the heights of Arnon.

²⁹Woe to you, Moab;

You have been ruined,

O people of Chemosh.

He has made its sons fugitives

And taken its daughters into the captivity

Of Sihon king of the Amorites.

³⁰But we have shot them down;

Heshbon has been ruined up to Dibon,

And we have laid them waste

As far as Nophah

Which extends to Medeba.”

³¹Then Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. ³²Then Moses sent spies to spy out Jazer, and they captured its satellite towns, and he dispossessed the Amorites who were there. ³³Then they turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og king of Bashan came out against them – he and all his people – to the battle at Edrei. ³⁴And the Lord said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, for I will deliver him and all his people into your hand, and his land, and you will deal with him as you dealt with Sihon king of the Amorites who was living in Heshbon.” ³⁵And they struck him and his sons and all his people, so much so that he had no survivors left. And they took possession of his land.

Reference(s) in Chapter 21: v.9 ↔ John 3:14.