The Israelites on the Move |
Numbers 21: 1-35 The Fourth Book of Moses Called Numbers |
When king Arad, the Canaanite, [who lived] in the south [country,] heard [it told] that Israel came by the [road traveled by spies,] then he fought against Israel & took some of them prisoners. |
Israel vowed to the Lord [God] & said, If You, [God,] will indeed deliver [these] people into my hand, I will [totally] destroy their cities. The Lord [listened] to the voice of Israel & delivered the Canaanites & [the Israelites totally] destroyed them & their cities. |
He called the name of the place Hormah. [The Israelites] journeyed from Mount Hor [on the road] by the Red Sea to [go around] the land of Edom. The [Israelites] were very discouraged, because of the way [they traveled.] |
The people [spoke] against God & Moses. [Why] have You brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread or water & our soul [despises] this light bread [mana.] |
And the Lord sent fiery [snakes] among the people & they bit the people & [many] people of Israel died. Therefore, the people came to Moses & said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord & you. Pray to the Lord, that He [takes] away the [snakes] from us. And Moses prayed for the people. |
The Lord said to Moses, Make [for] you a fiery serpent & [put] it on a pole. It shall [happen,] that everyone [who] is bitten, [will] live, when he looks upon it. Moses made a [snake] of brass & put it on a pole. It [happened,] that if a [snake] had bitten [anyone] & he [looked] at the brass [snake,] he lived. |
The children [people] of Israel set forward & pitched [their tents] in Oboth. They journeyed from there & pitched [their tents] in Ije Abarim, in the wilderness before Moab, toward the [sunrise.] |
From there, they removed [their tents] & pitched [their tents] in the Valley of Zared. From there, they removed & pitched [their tents] on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that comes out of the coasts of the Amorites. For Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab & the Amorites. |
[Therefore] it is said in the [Lord’s] book of the wars, What [God] did in the Red Sea & in the Brooks of Arnon & at the stream of the brooks that [go] down to the dwelling of Ar & lies upon the border of Moab. |
And from the [there,] they went to Beer, that is the well [where] the Lord [spoke] to Moses, Gather the people together & I will give them water. Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well & you [sang] to it. The princes & the nobles of the people [dug] the well at [God,] the [Lawgiver’s] direction with their [poles.] |
And from the wilderness, they went to Mattanah. From Mttanah, [they went] to Nahaliel. From [there] to Bamoth, in the valley that is in the [field] of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looks toward Jeshimon, [Wasteland.] |
And Israel sent messengers to Sihon, the [Amorite’s] king, saying, Let me pass through your land. We [won’t go] into the fields, or into the vineyards. We won’t drink the waters of the well, but we will go along by the King’s Highway, until we are past your borders. |
And Sihon [wouldn’t allow] Israel to pass through his border. Sihon gathered all his people together & went out against Israel into the wilderness & he came to Jahaz & fought against Israel. Israel [killed Sihon] with the edge of the sword & [& took possession of] his land from Arnon to Jabok & even to the children [people] of Ammon, for the border of the [people] of Ammon was strong. |
And Israel took all these cities & Israel [lived] in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon & in all [their] villages. For Heshbon was the city of Sihon, the [Amorite’s] king, who had fought against the [previous] king of Moab & [had] taken all his land out of his hand, even to Arnon. |
[Those who] speak in proverbs say, Come into Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be [rebuilt & repaired.] For there is a fire gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon. It has consumed Ar of Moab & the lords of the high places of Arnon. Woe to you, Moab! |
You are [destroyed,] O people of Chemosh. He has given his sons & daughters [who] escaped into captivity to king Sihon of the Amorites. [Judges 11:24 [Won't] you possess that which Chemosh, your god, gives you to possess? So, [whomever] the Lord, our God, shall drive out from before us, we will possess them.] We have shot at them & Heshbon [has] perished even to Dibon [& we have laid them waste even to Nophah, which reaches to Medeba. |
[Therefore,] Israel [lived] in the land of the Amorites. Moses sent [some] to spy out Jaazer & they [captured its] villages & drove out the Amorites [who] were there. They turned & went up by the [road] of Bashan & Og, [Bashan’s] king & all his people, went out against the [Israelites,] to the Battle of Edrei. |
And the Lord said to Moses, [Don’t be afraid of] him, because] I have delivered him, all his people & all his land into your hand. You shall do to him as you did to Sihon, the [Amorite’s] king, [who lived] in Heshbon. So they [killed] him, his sons & all his people, until there [were] none left alive & they possessed his land. |