Arad Conquered

21 When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negev (the South country) heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim [the route traveled by the spies sent out by Moses], he fought against Israel and took some of them captive. ² So Israel made a vow to the Lord, and said, “If You will indeed hand over these people to me, then I will utterly destroy their cities.” ³ The Lord heard the voice of Israel and handed over the Canaanites; then they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of the place was called Hormah (dedicate to destruction).

⁴ Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the [branch of the] Red Sea [called the Gulf of Aqabah], to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient, because [of the challenges] of the journey. ⁵ So the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, nor is there any water, and we loathe this miserable food.”

The Bronze Serpent

⁶ Then the Lord sent fiery (burning) serpents among the people; and they bit the people, and many Israelites died. ⁷ So the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord, so that He will remove the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. ⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent [of bronze] and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten will live when he looks at it.” ⁹ So Moses made a serpent of bronze and put it on the pole, and it happened that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.

¹⁰ Now the sons of Israel moved out and camped at Oboth. ¹¹ They journeyed on from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness facing Moab, toward the sunrise. ¹² From there they set out and camped in the ^[a]Wadi Zered. ¹³ From there they journeyed on and camped on the other side of [the river] Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the boundary of the Amorites; for [the river] Arnon is the boundary of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. ¹⁴ That is why it is said in the ^[b]Book of the Wars of the Lord:

¹⁶ From there the Israelites went on to Beer, that is the well where the Lord said to Moses, “Gather the people together and I will give them water.”^(A)

¹⁷ Then Israel sang this song,

And from the wilderness Israel journeyed to Mattanah, ¹⁹ and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, ²⁰ and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the field of Moab, to the top of Pisgah which looks down on the wasteland.

Two Victories

²¹ Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying, ²² “Let me pass through your land; we will not turn away [from the road] into field or vineyard; we will not drink the water of the wells. We will go by the king’s highway until we have crossed your border.” ²³ But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his border. Instead Sihon gathered all his people together and went out against Israel into the wilderness, and came to Jahaz, and he fought against Israel. ²⁴ Then Israel struck the king of the Amorites with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the Ammonites, for the boundary of the Ammonites was ^[f]strong. ²⁵ Israel took all these cities, and settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and in all its towns. ²⁶ For Heshbon was the city of Sihon, king of the Amorites, 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 That is why those who use proverbs say,

³¹ Thus Israel settled in the land of the Amorites. ³² Now Moses sent men to spy out Jazer, and they overthrew its villages 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 against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. ³⁴ But the Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have handed over him and all his people and his land to you; and you shall do to him just as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.” ³⁵ So the sons of Israel killed Og and his sons and all his people, until there was no survivor left to him; and they took possession of his land.

³³ So Moses gave to them, to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben and to the half-tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon, the king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og, the king of Bashan, the land with its cities and territories, the cities of the surrounding land.

Wanderings in the Wilderness

2 “Then we turned and set out for the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea, just as the Lord had told me; and we circled Mount Seir for many days. ² And the Lord spoke to me, saying, ³ ‘You have circled this mountain long enough; ^[a]turn northward, ⁴ and command the people, saying, “You are passing through the territory of your brothers the sons of Esau (the Edomites), who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful; ⁵ do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even as little as a footstep, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. ⁶ You shall buy food from them with money so that you may [have something to] eat, and you shall also buy water from them with money so that you may [have something to] drink. ⁷ For the Lord your God has blessed you in all ^[b]that you have done; He has known about your wanderings through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.”’

⁸ “So we passed beyond our brothers the sons of Esau, who lived in Seir, away from the Arabah (wilderness) road, away from Elath and from Ezion-geber. Then we turned and passed through by the way of the Wilderness of Moab. ⁹ And the Lord said to me, ‘Do not harass [the descendants of] Moab, nor provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given Ar to the sons (Moab and Ammon) of Lot as a possession.’^{(A) 10} (The Emim lived there in times past, a people great and numerous, and as tall as the Anakim. ¹¹ These also are regarded as Rephaim [an ancient people], as are the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim. ¹² The Horites also used to live in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them. They destroyed them from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land which the Lord gave them as their possession.) ¹³ ‘Now ^[c]arise and cross the valley of the ^[d]Zered.’ So we crossed the Zered Valley. ¹⁴ Now thirty-eight years passed from the time we left Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley, until that entire generation of the men of war had died from within the camp, just as the Lord had sworn to them. ¹⁵ Moreover the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from within the camp, until they were all dead.

¹⁶ “So it came about when all the men of war had finally died from among the people, ¹⁷ that the Lord spoke to me, saying, ¹⁸ ‘Today you are to pass through Ar, the border of Moab. ¹⁹ When you come opposite the territory of the sons of ^[e]Ammon, do not harass them nor provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot as a possession.’ ²⁰ (It is also regarded as the land of the Rephaim [of giant stature], for Rephaim used to live there, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummin, ²¹ a great, numerous people, and tall as the Anakim, but the Lord destroyed them before the sons of Ammon. And they dispossessed them and settled in their place, ²² just as He did for the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them; and the sons of Esau (the Edomites) dispossessed them and settled in their place [and remain there] even to this day. ²³ As for the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim (Cretans, later Philistines) who came from Caphtor (Crete) destroyed them and settled in their place.) ²⁴ ‘Now arise, continue on, and go through the valley of the ^[f]Arnon. Look, I have handed over to you Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin! Take possession [of it] and fight with him in battle. ²⁵ This day I will begin to put the dread and the fear of you on the peoples (pagans) under the whole heaven, who, when they hear the reports about you, will tremble and be in anguish because of you.’

²⁶ “So I sent messengers from the Wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, ²⁷ ‘Let me pass through your land [with my people]. I will travel [with them] only on the highway; I will not turn away to the right or to the left. ²⁸ You will sell me food for money so that I [along with my people] will eat, and you will give me water for money so that I [along with my people] will drink; only let me [and my people] travel through [the land] on foot, ²⁹ just as the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, ^[g]did for me, until I cross the Jordan into the land which the Lord our God is giving us.’ ³⁰ But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to travel through his land; for the Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to hand him over to you, as he is today. ³¹ The Lord said to me, ‘Look, I have begun to hand over to you Sihon and his land. Begin! Take possession [of it], so that you may possess his land.’

³² “Then at Jahaz, Sihon and all his people came out to meet us in battle. ³³ So the Lord our God handed him over to us [and gave us the victory], and we defeated him and his sons and all his people. ³⁴ At the same time we took all his cities and utterly destroyed every city—men, women and children. We left no survivor. ³⁵ We took only the cattle as plunder for ourselves and the spoil of the cities which we had captured. ³⁶ From Aroer, which is on the edge of the Arnon Valley, and from the city which is in the valley, as far as Gilead, there was no city [whose wall was] too high and too strong for us; the Lord our God handed over everything to us. ³⁷ Only you did not go near the land of the sons of Ammon, all along the river ^[h]Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, and wherever the Lord our God had forbidden us.

Conquests Recounted

3 “Then we turned and went up the road toward Bashan, and at Edrei, Og king of Bashan, with all his people came out to meet us in battle. ² And the Lord said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have handed him over to you, him and all his people and his land; and you shall do to him just as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.’ ³ So the Lord our God also handed over Og king of Bashan, and all his people, into our hand and we struck him until no survivor was left. ⁴ We captured all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities, the whole region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ⁵ All these cities were fortified and unassailable with their high walls, gates, and bars; in addition, [there were] a very great number of unwalled villages. ⁶ We utterly destroyed them, just as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying every city—the men, women, and children. ⁷ But we took all the cattle and the spoil of the cities as plunder for ourselves.

⁸ “So we took the land at that time from the hand of the two kings [Sihon and Og] of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon ⁹ (the Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir): ¹⁰ all the cities of the plain and all Gilead and all Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.” ¹¹ (For only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the [the giants known as the] Rephaim. Behold, his bed frame was a bed frame of iron; is it not in ^[i]Rabbah of the Ammonites? It was nine cubits (12 ft.) long and four cubits (6 ft.) wide, using the cubit of a man [the forearm to the end of the middle finger].)

¹² “So we took possession of this land at that time. I gave the territory from Aroer, which is by the valley of the Arnon, along with half of the hill country of Gilead and its cities to the Reubenites and to the Gadites. ¹³ The rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh, that is, all the region of Argob (concerning all Bashan, it is called the land of Rephaim. ¹⁴ Jair the son (descendant) of Manasseh took all the region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, that is Bashan, and called it after his own name, Havvoth (the villages of) Jair, as it is called to this day.) ¹⁵ I gave Gilead to Machir [of Manasseh]. ¹⁶ To the Reubenites and Gadites I gave the territory from Gilead as far as the Valley of Arnon, with the middle of the Valley as a boundary, and as far as the Jabbok River, the boundary of the sons of Ammon; ¹⁷ the Arabah also, with the Jordan as its boundary, from Chinnereth (the Sea of Galilee) as far as the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea (Dead Sea), at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah on the east.

¹⁸ “Then I commanded you [Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh] at that time, saying, ‘The Lord your God has given you this land to possess; all you who are brave men shall cross over [the Jordan] armed before your brothers, the sons of Israel. ¹⁹ But your wives and your children and your cattle—I know that you have much livestock—shall remain in your cities which I have given you, ²⁰ until the Lord gives rest to your fellow countrymen as [He has] to you, and they also possess the land which the Lord your God has given them beyond the Jordan. Then each of you may return to the land (possession) which I have given to you.’ ²¹ I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen everything that the Lord your God has done to these two kings [Sihon and Og]; so the Lord shall do the same to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross. ²² Do not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who is fighting for you.’

²³ “Then I pleaded with the Lord at that time [for His favor], saying, ²⁴ ‘O Lord God, You have only begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your mighty hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth that can do such works and mighty acts (miracles) as Yours? ²⁵ I pray, let me go over and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that good hill country [with Hermon] and Lebanon.’ ²⁶ But the Lord was angry with me because of you [and your rebellion at Meribah], and would not listen to me; and the Lord said to me, ‘Enough! Speak to Me no longer about this matter.^{(B) 27} Go up to the top of [Mount] Pisgah and raise your eyes toward the west and north and south and east, and see it with your eyes, for you shall not cross this Jordan. ²⁸ But command Joshua and encourage and strengthen him, for he shall go across and lead this people, and he will give them the land which you see as an inheritance.’ ²⁹ So we stayed in the Valley opposite Beth-peor.