Numbers 21

21 ¹ When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them captive. ² So Israel made a vow to our Father and said, "If you will indeed hand these people over to me, then I will devote their cities to destruction." ³ Our Father listened to Israel's voice and gave the Canaanites over to them; they devoted them and their cities to destruction. So the place was named Hormah.

The Bronze Serpent

⁴ They set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom, but the people grew impatient on the way. ⁵ The people spoke against our Father and against Moses: "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread and no water, and we hate this worthless food."

⁶ Then our Father sent venomous serpents among the people; they bit the people, and many Israelites died. ⁷ The people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against our Father and against you. Pray to him to take the serpents away from us." So Moses prayed for the people.

⁸ Our Father said to Moses, "Make a venomous serpent and set it on a pole; everyone who is bitten will live when he looks at it."

⁹ So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. ¹ 1 v9 Jesus pointed to this moment as a picture of himself: just as the bronze serpent was lifted up so the dying could look and live, so the Son was lifted up that everyone who looks to him in faith might live (John 3:14-15).

The Journey to Moab

¹⁰ The Israelites set out and camped at Oboth. ¹¹ Then they set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness opposite Moab, toward the sunrise. ¹² From there they set out and camped in the Valley of Zered. ¹³ From there they set out and camped beyond the Arnon, which is in the wilderness extending from the territory of the Amorites; for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. ¹⁴ That is why it is said in the Book of the Wars of our Father: "Waheb in Suphah, and the ravines of the Arnon, ¹⁵ and the slope of the ravines that bends toward the site of Ar and reaches to the border of Moab."

¹⁶ From there they went to Beer, the well where our Father said to Moses, "Gather the people, and I will give them water."

¹⁷ Then Israel sang this song: "Spring up, O well! Sing to it! ¹⁸ the well that princes dug, that the nobles of the people dug out with their scepters and staffs." Then from the wilderness they went to Mattanah,

¹⁹ from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth, ²⁰ and from Bamoth to the valley in the region of Moab, by the top of Pisgah that overlooks the wasteland.

Our Father Gives Sihon Into Their Hand

²¹ Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, ²² "Let me pass through your land. We will not enter any field or vineyard, and we will not drink water from any well. We will travel along the King's Highway until we have passed through your territory."

²³ But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. Instead he gathered all his people, marched out against Israel into the wilderness, came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel. ²⁴ Israel struck him down with the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the Ammonites; for the border of the Ammonites was fortified. ²⁵ Israel took all these cities and settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and all its surrounding villages. ²⁶ For Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land from him, as far as the Arnon. ²⁷ That is why the ballad singers say: "Come to Heshbon, let it be rebuilt; let the city of Sihon be restored. ²⁸ For fire went out from Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon. It consumed Ar of Moab, the lords of the heights of the Arnon. ²⁹ Woe to you, Moab! You are destroyed, people of Chemosh! He has made his sons fugitives and his daughters captives to Sihon king of the Amorites. ³⁰ But we struck them down Heshbon perished as far as Dibon. We laid waste as far as Nophah, which reaches to Medeba."

Our Father Gives Og Into Their Hand

³¹ So Israel settled in the land of the Amorites. ³² Moses sent men to spy out Jazer, and they captured its surrounding villages and drove out the Amorites who were there. ³³ Then they turned and went up by the way of Bashan, and Og king of Bashan marched out against them with all his people to fight at Edrei.

³⁴ But our Father said to Moses, "Do not be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you, with all his people and his land. Do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon."

³⁵ So they struck him down, along with his sons and all his people, until not one survivor remained, and they took possession of his land.