Numbers 21
The Scriptures (ISR 1998)

1And the sovereign of Araḏ, the Kena‛anite, who dwelt in the South, heard that Yisra’ĕl was coming on the way to Atharim, and he fought against Yisra’ĕl and took some of them captive.

2Then Yisra’ĕl made a vow to יהוה, and said, “If You deliver this people into my hand indeed, then I shall put their cities under the ban.”

3And יהוה listened to the voice of Yisra’ĕl and gave up the Kena‛anites, and they put them and their cities under the ban. So the name of that place was called Ḥormah.

4And they departed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Sea of Reeds, to go around the land of Eḏom. But the being of the people grew impatient because of the way.

5And the people spoke against Elohim and against Mosheh, “Why have you brought us up out of Mitsrayim to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our being loathes this light bread.”

6And יהוה sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people. And many of the people of Yisra’ĕl died.

7Then the people came to Mosheh, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against יהוה and against you. Pray to יהוה to take away the serpents from us.” So Mosheh prayed on behalf of the people.

8And יהוה said to Mosheh, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole. And it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.”

9So Mosheh made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole. And it came to be, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

10And the children of Yisra’ĕl set out and camped in Oḇoth.

11And they departed from Oḇoth and camped at Iyĕ Ha-Aḇarim, in the wilderness which is east of Mo’aḇ, toward sunrise.

12From there they set out and camped at the wadi Zereḏ.

13From there they set out and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites, for the Arnon is the border of Mo’aḇ, between Mo’aḇ and the Amorites.

14Therefore it is said in the Book of the Battles of יהוה, “Wahĕḇ in Suphah, the wadi Arnon,

15and the slope of the wadi that turns aside to the dwelling of Ar, and lies on the border of Mo’aḇ.”

16And from there on to Be’ĕr, which is the well where יהוה said to Mosheh, “Gather the people, and let Me give them water.”

17Yisra’ĕl then sang this song: “Spring up, O well! Sing to it,

18a well the leaders sank, which the nobles of the people dug with their staves, by the word of the Law-giver.” Then from the wilderness on to Mattanah,

19from Mattanah to Naḥali’ĕl, from Naḥali’ĕl to Bamoth,

20and from Bamoth, in the valley that is in the country of Mo’aḇ, to the top of Pisgah which looks down on the wasteland.

21And Yisra’ĕl sent messengers to Siḥon sovereign of the Amorites, saying,

22“Let me pass through your land. We shall not turn off into fields or vineyards, we shall not drink water from wells, but go by the sovereign’s highway until we have passed over your border.”

23But Siḥon would not allow Yisra’ĕl to pass through his border. So Siḥon gathered all his people together and went out against Yisra’ĕl in the wilderness, and he came to Yahats and fought against Yisra’ĕl.

24And Yisra’ĕl smote him with the edge of the sword, and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Yabboq, as far as the children of Ammon, for the border of the children of Ammon was strong.

25And Yisra’ĕl took all these cities, and Yisra’ĕl dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites – in Ḥeshbon and in all its villages,

26for Ḥeshbon was the city of Siḥon the sovereign of the Amorites, who had fought against the former sovereign of Mo’aḇ, and had taken all his land from his hand as far as the Arnon.

27That is why those who speak in proverbs say, “Come to Ḥeshbon, let the city of Siḥon be built and established.

28“For fire went out from Ḥeshbon, a flame from the city of Siḥon. It consumed Ar of Mo’aḇ, the masters of the heights of the Arnon.

29“Woe to you, Mo’aḇ! You have perished, O people of Kemosh! He has given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity, to Siḥon the sovereign of the Amorites.

30“Then we shot them – Ḥeshbon has perished as far as Diḇon. And we laid waste as far as Nophaḥ, which reaches to Mĕyḏeḇa.”

31So Yisra’ĕl dwelt in the land of the Amorites.

32And Mosheh sent to spy out Ya‛zĕr. And they took its villages and drove out the Amorites who were there,

33and turned and went up by the way to Bashan. And Og̅ sovereign of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Eḏre‛i.

34And יהוה said to Mosheh, “Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand, with all his people and his land. And you shall do to him as you did to Siḥon sovereign of the Amorites, who dwelt at Ḥeshbon.”

35And they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until no remnant was left to him. And they took possession of his land.

Numbers 20
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