The Bible

The Bible › Numbers

Numbers 21

1The Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim. He fought against Israel and took some of them captive. 2Israel made a vow to Yahweh: “If you will indeed give this people into my hand, I will devote their towns to destruction.” 3Yahweh heard Israel's voice and gave over the Canaanites. Israel devoted them and their towns to destruction, and the place was named Hormah.

4They traveled from Mount Hor by the way of the Sea of Reeds, to go around the land of Edom. The people became impatient on the journey. 5The people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread and no water, and we loathe this worthless bread.” 6Yahweh sent fiery snakes among the people. They bit the people, and many people of Israel died. 7The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against Yahweh and against you. Pray to Yahweh to take the snakes away from us.” Moses prayed for the people. 8Yahweh said to Moses, “Make a fiery snake and put it on a standard. Everyone who has been bitten will live when they look at it.” 9Moses made a bronze snake and put it on the standard. Whenever a snake bit someone, that person looked at the bronze snake and lived.

10The sons of Israel traveled and camped at Oboth. 11They traveled from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness east of Moab, toward the sunrise. 12From there they traveled and camped in the Zered Valley. 13From there they traveled and camped beyond the Arnon, in the wilderness extending from Amorite territory. The Arnon is Moab's boundary, between Moab and the Amorites. 14Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of Yahweh: “Waheb in Suphah, and the valleys—the Arnon, 15and the slope of the valleys that extends toward the settlement of Ar and leans against Moab's boundary.”

16From there they traveled to Beer. This is the well where Yahweh told Moses, “Gather the people, and I will give them water.” 17Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, well! Sing to it— 18the well the princes dug, the nobles of the people excavated, with the scepter, with their staffs.” From the wilderness they traveled to Mattanah, 19from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, 20and from Bamoth to the valley in the countryside of Moab, at the top of Pisgah, which overlooks the wasteland.

21Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites: 22“Let me pass through your land. We will not turn aside into field or vineyard or drink water from a well. We will travel the King's Road until we have passed through your territory.” 23Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. Sihon gathered all his people and went out against Israel into the wilderness. He came to Jahaz and fought against Israel. 24Israel 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, because the boundary of the sons of Ammon was strong. 25Israel took all these towns and lived in all the Amorite towns, in Heshbon and all its surrounding settlements. 26Heshbon had been the town of Sihon king of the Amorites. He had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land from his hand, as far as the Arnon. 27That is why the makers of sayings say, “Come to Heshbon! Let Sihon's town be built and established. 28For fire went out from Heshbon, a flame from Sihon's town. It consumed Ar of Moab, the lords of the heights of the Arnon. 29Woe to you, Moab! You have perished, people of Chemosh. He gave his sons as fugitives and his daughters into captivity to Sihon king of the Amorites. 30We shot them down; Heshbon perished as far as Dibon. We laid waste as far as Nophah, which reaches to Medeba.”

31Israel lived in the land of the Amorites. 32Moses sent men to spy out Jazer. They captured its surrounding settlements. He drove out the Amorites who were there. 33They turned and went up by the way of Bashan. Og king of Bashan came out against them, he and all his people, for battle at Edrei. 34Yahweh said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, because I have given him, all his people, and his land into your hand. Do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.” 35They struck him, his sons, and all his people, until no survivor was left to him, and they took possession of his land.

Translation notes 6

21:1–3 — Atharim; devotion to destruction. Atharim is retained as a place name; “the way of the scouts” is another interpretation. The vow's devotion places the towns beyond ordinary use; in this war setting destruction is explicit. “Hormah” echoes that term. The draft does not soften the killing or add an account of the towns' subsequent occupation.

21:4–9 — Fiery snakes; bronze. “Fiery” is the source's description, often understood of the burning effect of venom; an exact species or color is not established. The Hebrew words for snake and bronze sound similar. “Standard” is a raised signal or pole. The text describes looking and living without inserting an explanation drawn from a later biblical use of the scene.

21:14–15 — Fragmentary quotation. The quoted words are difficult and lack an explicit opening verb. Waheb and Suphah are retained as names; the familiar alternative “what he did in the Red Sea” depends on a different construal. The Book of the Wars of Yahweh is named, but the passage does not supply that book's complete contents or date.

21:17–20 — Well song; route. The scepter and staffs are named as instruments in the song, without an explanation of how the leaders used them. “Jeshimon” is an alternative to the common-noun “wasteland.” The transitions between poetry and route names are editorial judgments; “they traveled” is supplied where the Hebrew lists the next place without a verb.

21:27–30 — Heshbon song. This is a victory or taunt poem. Its perspective and relation to the preceding conquest are debated. The wording in verse 30 is especially uncertain: “their descendants perished” competes with “we shot them down,” and an ancient alternative has “fire” where the Hebrew base has “which.” The draft retains a provisional construal of the base rather than printing a composite reconstruction.

21:32 — Drove out. The draft follows the Masoretic reading instruction's singular causative verb, “he drove out,” after the plural capture clause. The subject is not named again; Moses is the preceding named leader, and Israel may also be understood collectively. The written form differs and can otherwise concern taking possession.