1 ARST The king of the city of Arad lived in the area where the Canaanites lived, in the southern Judean wilderness. He heard a report that the Israelites were approaching on the road to Atharim village. So his army attacked the Israelites and captured some of them. BSB BSB: When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked Israel and captured some prisoners.
2 ARST Then the Israelites declared this solemnly,“Yahweh, if you will help us to defeat these people, we will completely destroy all their towns.” BSB BSB: So Israel made a vow to the LORD: “If You will deliver this people into our hands, we will devote their cities to destruction.”
3 ARST Yahweh heard what they requested, and he enabled them to defeat the army of this Canaan people group. The Israelite soldiers killed all the people and destroyed their towns. Ever since that time, that place has been called Hormah which means“destruction.” BSB BSB: And the LORD heard Israel’s plea and delivered up the Canaanites. Israel devoted them and their cities to destruction; so they named the place Hormah.
4 ARST Then the Israelites left Mount Hor and traveled on the road toward the Sea of Reeds, in order to go around the land of Edom. But the people became impatient along the way, BSB BSB: Then they set out from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, in order to bypass the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient on the journey
5 ARST and they began to grumble against God and against Moses. They said,“Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in this desert? There is nothing to eat here, and nothing to drink. And we detest this lousy manna food!” BSB BSB: and spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you led us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!”
6 ARST So Yahweh sent poisonous snakes among them. Many of the people were bitten by the snakes and died. BSB BSB: So the LORD sent venomous snakes among the people, and many of the Israelites were bitten and died.
7 ARST Then the people came to Moses and cried out, saying,“We now know that we have sinned against Yahweh and against you. Pray to Yahweh, asking that he will take away the snakes!” So Moses prayed for the people. BSB BSB: Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Intercede with the LORD so He will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses interceded for the people.
8 ARST Then Yahweh told him,“Make a model of a poisonous snake, and attach it to the top of a pole. If those who are bitten by the snakes look at that model, they will recover.” BSB BSB: Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will live.”
9 ARST So Moses made a snake from bronze and attached it to the top of a pole. Then, when those who had been bitten by a snake looked at the bronze snake, they recovered! BSB BSB: So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. If anyone who was bitten looked at the bronze snake, he would live.
10 ARST Then the Israelites traveled to Oboth and camped there. BSB BSB: Then the Israelites set out and camped at Oboth.
11 ARST Then they left Oboth and went to Iye Abarim in the wilderness on the eastern border of Moab. BSB BSB: They journeyed from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim in the wilderness opposite Moab to the east.
12 ARST From there they traveled to the valley where the Zered riverbed is, and camped there. BSB BSB: From there they set out and camped in the Valley of Zered.
13 ARST Then they traveled to the north side of the Arnon River. That area is in the wilderness next to the land where the Amorites live. The Arnon River is the boundary between Moab and where the Amorites live. BSB BSB: From there they moved on and camped on the other side of the Arnon, in the wilderness that extends into the Amorite territory. Now the Arnon is the border between the Moabites and the Amorites.
14 ARST That is why it is written down in the book of the wars of Yahweh,“Waheb in Suphah, and the ravines there, and the Arnon River BSB BSB: Therefore it is stated in the Book of the Wars of the LORD: “Waheb in Suphah and the wadis of the Arnon,
15 ARST and the ravines there, which extend as far as Ar village on the border of Moab.” BSB BSB: even the slopes of the wadis that extend to the site of Ar and lie along the border of Moab.”
16 ARST From there the Israelites traveled to Beer. There was a well there where Yahweh previously had said to Moses,“Gather the people together, and I will give them water.” BSB BSB: From there they went on to Beer, the well where the LORD said to Moses, “Gather the people so that I may give them water.”
17 ARST There the Israelites sang this song:“O well, give us water! Sing about this well! BSB BSB: Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well, all of you sing to it!
18 ARST Sing about this well which our leaders dug; they dug out the dirt with their royal scepters and their walking sticks.” Then the Israelites left that wilderness and went through Mattanah. BSB BSB: The princes dug the well; the nobles of the people hollowed it out with their scepters and with their staffs.” From the wilderness the Israelites went on to Mattanah,
19 ARST The Israelites also went through Nahaliel, and Bamoth village. BSB BSB: and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,
20 ARST Then they went to the valley in Moab where Mount Pisgah rises above the wilderness. BSB BSB: and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.
21 ARST Then the Israelites sent messengers to Sihon, the king of the Amor people group. This was the message that they gave him, BSB BSB: Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,
22 ARST “Allow us to travel through your country. We will stay on the king’ s highway, the main road that goes from the south to the north, until we have finished traveling through your land. We will not walk through any field or vineyard, or drink water from your wells.” BSB BSB: “Let us pass through your land. We will not turn aside into any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will stay on the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”
23 ARST But King Sihon refused. He would not allow them to walk through his land. Instead, he sent his whole army to attack the Israelites in the desert. They attacked the Israelites at Jahaz village. BSB BSB: But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. Instead, he gathered his whole army and went out to confront Israel in the wilderness. When he came to Jahaz, he fought against Israel.
24 ARST But the Israelites completely defeated them and occupied their land, from the Arnon River in the south to the Jabbok River in the north. They stopped at the border of the land where the Ammon people group lived, because the Ammon army was defending the border strongly. BSB BSB: And Israel put him to the sword and took possession of his land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok—but only up to the border of the Ammonites, because it was fortified.
25 ARST So the Israelites occupied all the cities and towns where the Amorites lived, and some of the Israelites began to live in them. They occupied the city of Heshbon and the nearby villages. BSB BSB: Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its villages.
26 ARST Heshbon was the capital of the country. It was the city where King Sihon ruled. His army had previously defeated the army of the king of Moab, and then his people had begun to live in all of the land of Moab as far as the Arnon River in the south. BSB BSB: Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land as far as the Arnon.
27 ARST For that reason, one of the poets wrote long ago,“Come to Heshbon, the city where King Sihon ruled. We want the city to be restored. BSB BSB: That is why the poets say: “Come to Heshbon, let it be rebuilt; let the city of Sihon be restored.
28 ARST A fire blazed from Heshbon. It burned down the city of Ar in Moab. It destroyed everything on the hills along the Arnon River. BSB BSB: For a fire went out from Heshbon, a blaze from the city of Sihon. It consumed Ar of Moab, the rulers of Arnon’s heights.
29 ARST You people of Moab, terrible things have happened to you! You people who worship your god Chemosh have been annihilated! The men who worshiped Chemosh have run away and are now refugees, and the women who worshiped him have been captured by the army of Sihon, the king of the Amor people group. BSB BSB: Woe to you, O Moab! You are destroyed, O people of Chemosh! He gave up his sons as refugees, and his daughters into captivity to Sihon king of the Amorites.
30 ARST But we have defeated those descendants of Amor, all the way from Heshbon in the north to the city of Dibon in the south. We have completely obliterated them as far as the cities of Nophah and Medeba.” BSB BSB: But we have overthrown them; Heshbon is destroyed as far as Dibon. We demolished them as far as Nophah, which reaches to Medeba.”
31 ARST So the Israelite people began to live in the land where the Amorites lived. BSB BSB: So Israel lived in the land of the Amorites.
32 ARST After Moses sent some men to explore the area near the city of Jazer, Israelite people began to live in all the towns in that region and expelled the Amor people group who lived there. BSB BSB: After Moses had sent spies to Jazer, Israel captured its villages and drove out the Amorites who were there.
33 ARST Then they turned north toward the region of Bashan, but King Og of Bashan and all his army attacked them at the city of Edrei. BSB BSB: Then they turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og king of Bashan and his whole army came out to meet them in battle at Edrei.
34 ARST Yahweh said to Moses,“Do not be afraid of Og, because I am going to enable your men to defeat him and his army, and to take possession of all his land. You will do to him what you did to Sihon, the king of the Amor people group, who ruled in Heshbon.” BSB BSB: But the LORD said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have delivered him into your hand, along with all his people and his land. Do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.”
35 ARST And that is what happened. The Israelites defeated Og’ s army, and killed King Og and his sons and all his people. Not a person survived! And then the Israelites began to live in their land. BSB BSB: So they struck down Og, along with his sons and his whole army, until no remnant was left. And they took possession of his land.
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