Two Victories

21 (A)Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying, 22 (B)Let me pass through your land. We will not turn off into field or vineyard; we will not drink water from wells. We will go by the king’s road until we have passed through your border.” 23 (C)But Sihon would not permit Israel to pass through his border. Instead, Sihon gathered all his people and went out against Israel in the wilderness, and came to (D)Jahaz and fought against Israel. 24 Then (E)Israel 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; for the (F)border of the sons of Ammon was [a]Jazer. 25 Israel took all these cities, and (G)Israel lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and in all her [b]villages. 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 For that reason those who use proverbs say,

“Come to Heshbon! Let it be built!
So let the city of Sihon be established.
28 (H)For a fire spread from Heshbon,
A flame from the town of Sihon;
It devoured (I)Ar of Moab,
The [c](J)dominant [d]heights of the Arnon.
29 (K)Woe to you, Moab!
You are destroyed, people of (L)Chemosh!
(M)He has given his sons as fugitives,
(N)And his daughters into captivity,
To an Amorite king, Sihon.
30 But we have shot them down with arrows,
Heshbon is destroyed as far as (O)Dibon,
Then we have laid waste as far as Nophah,
Which reaches to Medeba.”

31 So Israel lived in the land of the Amorites. 32 Now Moses sent men to spy out (P)Jazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 21:24 So LXX; MT strong
  2. Numbers 21:25 Lit daughters
  3. Numbers 21:28 Lit lords of the
  4. Numbers 21:28 Or Bamoth

26 (A)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; I will [a]travel only on the road. I will not turn aside to the right or to the left. 28 You will sell me food for money so that I may eat, and give me water for money so that I may drink, (B)only let me pass through on [b]foot, 29 just as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in (C)Ar did for me, until I cross over the Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is giving us.’ 30 But (D)Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass [c]through his land; for the (E)Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to hand him over to you, as he is today. 31 And the Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to turn Sihon and his land over [d]to you. Begin taking possession, so that you may possess his land.’

32 “Then Sihon came out [e]with all his people to meet us in battle at Jahaz. 33 And (F)the Lord our God turned him over [f]to us, and we [g](G)defeated him with his sons and all his people. 34 So we captured all his cities at that time and [h](H)utterly destroyed [i]the men, women, and children of every city. We left no survivor. 35 We took (I)only the animals as our plunder, and the spoils of the cities which we had captured. 36 From (J)Aroer which is on the edge of the [j]Valley of Arnon and from the city which is in the [k]valley, even to Gilead, there was no city that was too [l]high for us; the Lord our God turned it all over [m]to us.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 2:27 Lit go on the road, on the road
  2. Deuteronomy 2:28 Lit my feet
  3. Deuteronomy 2:30 Lit by him
  4. Deuteronomy 2:31 Lit before you
  5. Deuteronomy 2:32 Lit he and
  6. Deuteronomy 2:33 Lit before us
  7. Deuteronomy 2:33 Lit struck
  8. Deuteronomy 2:34 Or put under the ban
  9. Deuteronomy 2:34 Lit every city of men...
  10. Deuteronomy 2:36 Or wadi
  11. Deuteronomy 2:36 Or wadi
  12. Deuteronomy 2:36 Or strong
  13. Deuteronomy 2:36 Lit before us

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