Numbers 21

⁴⁰Now the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev in the land of Canaan, heard that the Israelites were coming.

¹⁶Now the descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenite, went up with the men of Judah from the City of Palms to the Wilderness of Judah in the Negev near Arad. They went to live among the people.

¹⁴the king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one;

⁵And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of them, chasing them from the gate as far as the quarries and striking them down on the slopes. So the hearts of the people melted and became like water.

⁴⁵Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that part of the hill country came down, attacked them, and routed them all the way to Hormah.

³For it was not by their sword that they took the land; their arm did not bring them victory. It was by Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your face, because You favored them.

⁴You are my King, O God, who ordains victories for Jacob.

³⁰Jephthah made this vow to the Lord: “If indeed You will deliver the Ammonites into my hand,

²⁰Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, and if He will provide me with food to eat and clothes to wear,

¹¹And she made a vow, saying, “O Lord of Hosts, if only You will look upon the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, not forgetting Your maidservant but giving her a son, then I will dedicate him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall ever touch his head.”

²⁶At that time Joshua invoked this solemn oath: “Cursed before the Lord is the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho; at the cost of his firstborn he will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.”

⁷After four years had passed, Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go to Hebron to fulfill a vow I have made to the Lord.

⁸For your servant made a vow while dwelling in Geshur of Aram, saying: ‘If indeed the Lord brings me back to Jerusalem, I will worship the Lord in Hebron.’”

²⁸Nothing that a man sets apart to the Lord from all he owns—whether a man, an animal, or his inherited land—can be sold or redeemed; everything so devoted is most holy to the Lord.

²⁹No person set apart for destruction may be ransomed; he must surely be put to death.

⁴⁵Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that part of the hill country came down, attacked them, and routed them all the way to Hormah.

⁴⁴Then the Amorites who lived in the hills came out against you and chased you like a swarm of bees. They routed you from Seir all the way to Hormah.

¹⁵When he calls out to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him.

¹⁷He will turn toward the prayer of the destitute; He will not despise their prayer.

¹⁷You have heard, O Lord, the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their hearts. You will incline Your ear,

³⁰to those in Hormah, Bor-ashan, and Athach;

⁹Moses relayed this message to the Israelites, but on account of their broken spirit and cruel bondage, they did not listen to him.

¹⁸Then Israel traveled through the wilderness and bypassed the lands of Edom and Moab. They came to the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, since the Arnon was its border.

²²strengthening the souls of the disciples and encouraging them to continue in the faith. “We must endure many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.

⁷Why are you discouraging the Israelites from crossing into the land that the Lord has given them?

⁹For when your fathers went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land that the Lord had given them.

⁴¹And the Israelites set out from Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah.

¹⁹They spoke against God, saying, “Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness?

²So the people contended with Moses, “Give us water to drink.” “Why do you contend with me?” Moses replied. “Why do you test the Lord?”

³But the people thirsted for water there, and they grumbled against Moses: “Why have you brought us out of Egypt—to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”

⁴¹The next day the whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the Lord’s people!”

¹³Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? Must you also appoint yourself as ruler over us?

¹⁴Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? No, we will not come!”

¹¹They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us into the wilderness to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?

²And there in the desert the whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron.

³“If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt!” they said. “There we sat by pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, but you have brought us into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death!”

⁹We should not test Christ, as some of them did, and were killed by snakes.

¹⁵He led you through the vast and terrifying wilderness with its venomous snakes and scorpions, a thirsty and waterless land. He brought you water from the rock of flint.

¹⁷“For behold, I will send snakes among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you,” declares the Lord.

³Though they hide themselves atop Carmel, there I will track them and seize them; and though they hide from Me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them.

⁴Though they are driven by their enemies into captivity, there I will command the sword to slay them. I will fix My eyes upon them for harm and not for good.”

⁶This is the burden against the beasts of the Negev: Through a land of hardship and distress, of lioness and lion, of viper and flying serpent, they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people of no profit to them.

²⁹Do not rejoice, all you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken. For a viper will spring from the root of the snake, and a flying serpent from its egg.

²⁴Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me, so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

³⁴When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God.

⁸Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people. Then I will let your people go, that they may sacrifice to the Lord.”

²And the people cried out to Moses, and he prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down.

²⁸Pharaoh answered, “I will let you go and sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.”

⁶Then the king responded to the man of God, “Intercede with the Lord your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored.” So the man of God interceded with the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him as it was before.

¹⁴Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

⁴³Many times He rescued them, but they were bent on rebellion and sank down in their iniquity.

⁴⁴Nevertheless He heard their cry; He took note of their distress.

⁸The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion.

¹⁴Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

¹⁵that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.

²Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

⁴⁰For it is My Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

⁴He removed the high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He also demolished the bronze snake called Nehushtan that Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had burned incense to it.

³²And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw everyone to Myself.”

²²Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.

⁴³They set out from Punon and camped at Oboth.

⁴⁴They set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim on the border of Moab.

¹³“Now arise and cross over the Brook of Zered.” So we crossed over the Brook of Zered.

¹⁴The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the Brook of Zered was thirty-eight years, until that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them.

¹⁸Then Israel traveled through the wilderness and bypassed the lands of Edom and Moab. They came to the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, since the Arnon was its border.

³⁶When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the Moabite city on the Arnon border, at the edge of his territory.

²Like fluttering birds pushed out of the nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon:

¹⁴Therefore it is stated in the Book of the Wars of the Lord: “Waheb in Suphah and the wadis of the Arnon,

²⁰Moab is put to shame, for it has been shattered. Wail and cry out! Declare by the Arnon that Moab is destroyed.

²⁴“Arise, set out, and cross the Arnon Valley. See, I have delivered into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle.

¹³So the sun stood still and the moon stopped until the nation took vengeance upon its enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? “So the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.”

¹⁸and he ordered that the sons of Judah be taught the Song of the Bow. It is written in the Book of Jashar:

²⁸For a fire went out from Heshbon, a blaze from the city of Sihon. It consumed Ar of Moab, the rulers of Arnon’s heights.

¹⁸“Today you are going to cross the border of Moab at Ar.

⁹Then the Lord said to me, “Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as their possession.”

²⁹just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for us, until we cross the Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is giving us.”

¹This is the burden against Moab: Ar in Moab is ruined, destroyed in a night! Kir in Moab is devastated, destroyed in a night!

⁸“Take the staff and assemble the congregation. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch, and it will pour out its water. You will bring out water from the rock and provide drink for the congregation and their livestock.”

¹⁷The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the Lord, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

¹⁸I will open rivers on the barren heights, and fountains in the middle of the valleys. I will turn the desert into a pool of water, and the dry land into flowing springs.

³With joy you will draw water from the springs of salvation,

²¹Then Jotham ran away, escaping to Beer, and he lived there for fear of his brother Abimelech.

¹⁷The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let the one who hears say, “Come!” And let the one who is thirsty come, and the one who desires the water of life drink freely.

⁶And He told me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life.

²Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; tell of all His wonders.

¹On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:

¹²Then they believed His promises and sang His praise.

¹³Is any one of you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises.

¹In that day you will say: “O Lord, I will praise You. Although You were angry with me, Your anger has turned away, and You have comforted me.

²Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord God is my strength and my song, and He also has become my salvation.”

⁵Sing to the Lord, for He has done glorious things. Let this be known in all the earth.

²²For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our King. It is He who will save us.

⁴the law that Moses gave us, the possession of the assembly of Jacob.

³¹But you stand here with Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments and statutes and ordinances you are to teach them to follow in the land that I am giving them to possess.”

¹²There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

¹⁷For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

¹⁷Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who richly provides all things for us to enjoy.

¹⁸Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, and to be generous and ready to share,

²⁸And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland.

¹⁴So Balak took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, where he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

¹Then the Israelites traveled on and camped in the plains of Moab near the Jordan, across from Jericho.

⁴⁹And there on the plains of Moab they camped by the Jordan, from Beth-jeshimoth to Abel-shittim.

⁵⁰On the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, the Lord said to Moses,

⁶³These were the ones numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest when they counted the Israelites on the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho.

⁵On the east side of the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying:

²⁶So from the Wilderness of Kedemoth I sent messengers with an offer of peace to Sihon king of Heshbon, saying,

²⁷“Let us pass through your land; we will stay on the main road. We will not turn to the right or to the left.

¹⁹And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land into our own place.’

²⁰But Sihon would not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So he gathered all his people, encamped in Jahaz, and fought with Israel.

¹⁴From Kadesh, Moses sent messengers to tell the king of Edom, “This is what your brother Israel says: You know all the hardship that has befallen us,

¹⁵how our fathers went down to Egypt, where we lived many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers,

¹⁷Please let us pass through your land. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will stay on the King’s Highway; we will not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”

²⁰But Sihon would not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So he gathered all his people, encamped in Jahaz, and fought with Israel.

⁷When you reached this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us in battle, but we defeated them.

⁸We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

³⁴There is a cry from Heshbon to Elealeh; they raise their voices to Jahaz, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim have dried up.

²¹So Edom refused to allow Israel to pass through their territory, and Israel turned away from them.

³⁰But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through, for the Lord your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate, that He might deliver him into your hand, as is the case this day.

³¹Then the Lord said to me, “See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his land over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land.”

⁴Heshbon and Elealeh cry out; their voices are heard as far as Jahaz. Therefore the soldiers of Moab cry out; their souls tremble within.

⁹Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, though his height was like that of the cedars, and he was as strong as the oaks. Yet I destroyed his fruit above and his roots below.

²²You gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner of the land. So they took the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and of Og king of Bashan.

²²During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.

⁸Later, I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan. They fought against you, but I delivered them into your hand, that you should possess their land when I destroyed them before you.

¹⁹Sihon king of the Amorites His loving devotion endures forever.

⁸So they asked, “Which one of the tribes of Israel failed to come up before the Lord at Mizpah?” And, in fact, no one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp for the assembly.

¹²The Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land that the Lord gave them as their possession.)

⁵³But I will restore Sodom and her daughters from captivity, as well as Samaria and her daughters. And I will restore you along with them.

³⁴There is a cry from Heshbon to Elealeh; they raise their voices to Jahaz, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim have dried up.

³¹So Israel lived in the land of the Amorites.

⁴Your neck is like a tower made of ivory; your eyes are like the pools of Heshbon by the gate of Bath-rabbim; your nose is like the tower of Lebanon, facing toward Damascus.

²There is no longer praise for Moab; in Heshbon they devise evil against her: ‘Come, let us cut her off from nationhood.’ You too, O people of Madmen, will be silenced; the sword will pursue you.

⁴you will sing this song of contempt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has ceased, and how his fury has ended!

⁶Will not all of these take up a taunt against him, speaking with mockery and derision: ‘Woe to him who amasses what is not his and makes himself rich with many loans! How long will this go on?’

¹⁴Therefore it is stated in the Book of the Wars of the Lord: “Waheb in Suphah and the wadis of the Arnon,

¹⁵even the slopes of the wadis that extend to the site of Ar and lie along the border of Moab.”

⁴⁵“Those who flee will stand helpless in Heshbon’s shadow, because fire has gone forth from Heshbon and a flame from within Sihon. It devours the foreheads of Moab and the skulls of the sons of tumult.

⁴⁶Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished; for your sons have been taken into exile and your daughters have gone into captivity.

²So I will send fire against Moab to consume the citadels of Kerioth. Moab will die in tumult, amid war cries and the sound of the ram’s horn.

⁴¹The next morning, Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-baal. From there he could see the outskirts of the camp of the people.

¹⁴So I will kindle a fire in the walls of Rabbah to consume its citadels amid war cries on the day of battle and a violent wind on the day of tempest.

¹²So I will send fire upon Teman to consume the citadels of Bozrah.”

¹³The king also desecrated the high places east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Corruption, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

²⁴Do you not possess whatever your god Chemosh grants you? So also, we possess whatever the Lord our God has granted us.

⁴⁶Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished; for your sons have been taken into exile and your daughters have gone into captivity.

⁷At that time on a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites.

³³For they have forsaken Me to worship Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites. They have not walked in My ways, nor done what is right in My eyes, nor kept My statutes and judgments, as Solomon’s father David did.

⁷Because you trust in your works and treasures, you too will be captured, and Chemosh will go into exile with his priests and officials.

²Dibon goes up to its temple to weep at its high places. Moab wails over Nebo, as well as over Medeba. Every head is shaved, every beard is cut off.

¹⁸Come down from your glory; sit on parched ground, O daughter dwelling in Dibon, for the destroyer of Moab has come against you; he has destroyed your fortresses.

²²upon Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim,

³⁴And the Gadites built up Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer,

¹⁷to Heshbon and all its cities on the plateau, including Dibon, Bamoth-baal, Beth-baal-meon,

³“Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon,

¹⁶and to the Reubenites and Gadites I gave the territory from Gilead to the Arnon Valley (the middle of the valley was the border) and up to the Jabbok River, the border of the Ammonites.

¹⁷The Jordan River in the Arabah bordered it from Chinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) with the slopes of Pisgah to the east.

¹Now these are the kings of the land whom the Israelites struck down and whose lands they took beyond the Jordan to the east, from the Arnon Valley to Mount Hermon, including all the Arabah eastward:

²Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. He ruled from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along the middle of the valley, up to the Jabbok River (the border of the Ammonites), that is, half of Gilead,

³³So Moses gave to the Gadites, to the Reubenites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan—the land including its cities and the territory surrounding them.

³⁴And the Gadites built up Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer,

⁸The other half of Manasseh, along with the Reubenites and Gadites, had received the inheritance Moses had given them beyond the Jordan to the east, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had assigned to them:

⁹The area from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the middle of the valley, the whole plateau of Medeba as far as Dibon,

³²I will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah, more than I weep for Jazer. Your tendrils have extended to the sea; they reach even to Jazer. The destroyer has descended on your summer fruit and grape harvest.

¹Now the Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, surveyed the lands of Jazer and Gilead, and they saw that the region was suitable for livestock.

³⁵Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah,

³“Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon,

⁸For the fields of Heshbon have withered, along with the grapevines of Sibmah. The rulers of the nations have trampled its choicest vines, which had reached as far as Jazer and spread toward the desert. Their shoots had spread out and passed over the sea.

⁹So I weep with Jazer for the vines of Sibmah; I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears. Triumphant shouts have fallen silent over your summer fruit and your harvest.

¹²the whole kingdom of Og in Bashan, who had reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei and had remained as a remnant of the Rephaim. Moses had struck them down and dispossessed them,

⁴This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and then at Edrei had defeated Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth.

⁷When you reached this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us in battle, but we defeated them.

¹Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og king of Bashan and his whole army came out to meet us in battle at Edrei.

²But the Lord said to me, “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.”

³³So Moses gave to the Gadites, to the Reubenites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan—the land including its cities and the territory surrounding them.

¹²Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.

¹⁰He struck down many nations and slaughtered mighty kings:

¹¹Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the kings of Canaan.

²⁴And 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.

²⁵Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its villages.

⁷you are to rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand.

²But the Lord said to me, “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.”

³So the Lord our God also delivered Og king of Bashan and his whole army into our hands. We struck them down until no survivor was left.

³⁰Jephthah made this vow to the Lord: “If indeed You will deliver the Ammonites into my hand,

¹³Meanwhile a prophet approached Ahab king of Israel and declared, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Do you see this entire great army? Behold, I will deliver it into your hand this very day, and you will know that I am the Lord.’”

³So the Lord our God also delivered Og king of Bashan and his whole army into our hands. We struck them down until no survivor was left.

⁴At that time we captured all sixty of his cities. There was not a single city we failed to take—the entire region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

⁴And Og king of Bashan, one of the remnant of the Rephaim, who lived in Ashtaroth and Edrei.

⁵He ruled over Mount Hermon, Salecah, all of Bashan up to the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites, and half of Gilead to the border of Sihon king of Heshbon.

¹²the whole kingdom of Og in Bashan, who had reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei and had remained as a remnant of the Rephaim. Moses had struck them down and dispossessed them,

¹⁰He struck down many nations and slaughtered mighty kings:

¹¹Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the kings of Canaan.

⁷When you reached this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us in battle, but we defeated them.

⁸We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

¹⁷He struck down great kings His loving devotion endures forever.

¹⁸and slaughtered mighty kings—His loving devotion endures forever.