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¹ WHEN the Canaanite, the king of Gadar who dwelled in the south, heard that Israel came by the way of the spies, then he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoners.² And Israel vowed a vow to the LORD and said, If thou wilt surely deliver this people into our hands, then we will utterly destroy their cities.³ And the LORD hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites into their hands; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities; and they called the name of that place Hirmah.

⁴ And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people were much distressed because of the way.⁵ And the people murmured against God and against Moses, saying, Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For neither is there bread, nor water; and our soul is wearied with this inferior bread (manna).⁶ And the LORD sent fiery serpents against the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.⁷ Therefore the people came to Moses and said to him, We have sinned, for we have murmured against the LORD and against you; pray before the LORD, that he take the serpents away from us. And Moses prayed for the people.⁸ And the LORD said to Moses, Make a fiery serpent of brass, and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass that every one who is bitten by a serpent, when he looks upon it, shall live.⁹ So Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

¹⁰ And the children of Israel journeyed, and encamped in Aboth.¹¹ And they journeyed from Aboth, and encamped at the Een di Ebraye (the spring of the Hebrews), in the wilderness which is before Moab, to the east toward the sunrise.¹² From thence they journeyed, and encamped in the valley of Zared.¹³ From thence they journeyed, and encamped on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites; for Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.¹⁴ Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the LORD, A flame of fire is in the whirlwind and in the river of Arnon,¹⁵ And he made straight the slope of the valleys which extended to the site of Ad, which lies over the border of Moab.¹⁶ And there is the Bera; that is, the well of which the LORD said to Moses, Gather the people together and I will give them water.¹⁷ Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; sing ye to it:¹⁸ The well which the princes dug, which the nobles of the people uncovered and searched out with their staves. And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah;¹⁹ And from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth;²⁰ And from Bamoth in the valley, which is in the country of Moab, to the top of the hill which looks toward Ashimon (the desert).

²¹ And Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying,²² Let us pass through your land; we will not turn aside into the fields or into the vineyards; we will not drink water from the wells; but we will go along by the kings highway until we have passed through your borders.²³ And Sihon would not let Israel pass through his borders; but Sihon gathered all his army together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness; and he came to Jahaz and fought against Israel.²⁴ And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from Arnon to Jabbok, and as far as the border of the children of Ammon; for the border of the children of Ammon was fortified.²⁵ And Israel took all those cities; and Israel settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and in all the villages thereof.²⁶ For Heshbon was the capital city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land out of his hand as far as Arnon.²⁷ Wherefore they say in the proverbs. Come into Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and prepared:²⁸ For a fire has gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon. It has consumed Ad of Moab, and the worshippers of the high places of Arnon.²⁹ Woe to you, O Arnon! Woe to you, O Moab! You are destroyed, O people of Chemosh; he has given his sons hostages, and his daughters into captivity to Sihon king of the Amorites.³⁰ The fields of Heshbon have perished as far as Ribon, and have been laid waste as far as Lanhakh, which is in the wilderness.³¹ Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites.³² And Moses sent to spy out Jaazer, and they captured its villages, and destroyed the Amorites that were there.³³ And they turned and went up to the land of Mathnin; and Og the king of Mathnin went out against them, he and all his people, to the battle at Ardai.³⁴ And the LORD said to Moses, Fear him not; for I will deliver him into your hands, and all his people and his country; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon.³⁵ So they smote him and his sons and all his people until there was not a survivor left to him; and they possessed his land.