Numbers 21:17-35 ▼

17 Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well! Sing to it!

18 The well, which the leaders dug, Which the nobles of the people carved out, With the scepter and with their staffs.” And from the wilderness they continued to Mattanah,

19 and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,

20 and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the land of Moab, at the top of Pisgah which overlooks the wasteland.

21 Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying,

22 “Let me pass through your land. We will not turn off into field or vineyard; we will not drink water from wells. We will go by the king’s highway until we have passed through your border.”

23 But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his border. So Sihon gathered all his people and went out to meet Israel in the wilderness and came to Jahaz and fought against Israel.

24 Then Israel struck him with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the sons of Ammon; for the border of the sons of Ammon was Jazer.

25 And Israel took all these cities, and Israel lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all her towns.

26 For Heshbon was the city of Sihon, king of the Amorites. Now it was he who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken all his land out of his hand, as far as the Arnon.

27 Therefore those who use proverbs say, “Come to Heshbon! Let it be built! So let the city of Sihon be established.

28 For a fire went forth from Heshbon, A flame from the town of Sihon; It devoured Ar of Moab, The dominant heights of the Arnon.

29 Woe to you, O Moab! You perish, O people of Chemosh! He has given his sons as fugitives, And his daughters into captivity, To an Amorite king, Sihon.

30 But we have cast them down, Heshbon perishes as far as Dibon, And we have made desolate even to Nophah, Which reaches to Medeba.”

31 Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites.

32 And Moses sent to spy out Jazer, and they captured its towns and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.

33 Then they turned and went up by the way of Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan went out to meet them, he and all his people for battle at Edrei.

34 But Yahweh said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand, and all his people and his land; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.”

35 So they struck down him and his sons and all his people, until there was no survivor remaining for him; and they possessed his land.