Study Desk

When the Canaanite, the king of ^(C1)Arad, who lived in the ^(F1)Negev, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them captive.

So ^(C1)Israel made a vow to the LORD and said, "If You will indeed hand over this people to me, then I will ^(F1)utterly destroy their cities."

The LORD heard the voice of Israel and turned over the Canaanites; then they ^(F1)utterly destroyed them and their cities. And the place was named ^(F2)(C1)Hormah.

Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the ^(F1)Red Sea, to ^(C1)go around the land of Edom; and the ^(F2)people became impatient because of the journey.

So the people spoke against God and Moses: "^(C1)Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no ^(F1)food and no water, and ^(F2)(C2)we are disgusted with ^(F3)this miserable food."

^(C1)Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and ^(C2)they bit the people, so that ^(C3)many people of Israel died.

^(C1)So the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and against you; ^(C2)intercede with the LORD, that He will remove the serpents from us." And Moses interceded for the people.

Then the LORD said to Moses, "^(F1)Make a ^(C1)fiery serpent, and put it on a flag pole; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, and looks at it, will live."

So Moses made a ^(C1)bronze serpent and put it on the flag pole; and it came about, that if a serpent bit someone, and he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

^(C1)Now the sons of Israel moved out and camped in Oboth.

Then they journeyed from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness which is opposite Moab, to the ^(F1)east.

^(C1)From there they set out and camped in ^(F1)Wadi Zered.

From there they journeyed and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that comes out of the border of the Amorites; ^(C1)for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.

For that reason it is said in the Book of the Wars of the LORD, "Waheb in Suphah, And the ^(F1)wadis of the Arnon,

And the slope of the wadis That extends to the site of ^(C1)Ar, And leans to the border of Moab."

^(C1)From there they continued to ^(F1)Beer, that is the well where the LORD said to Moses, "Assemble the people, that I may give them water."

^(C1)Then Israel sang this song: "Spring up, O well! Sing to it!

-"The well, which the leaders dug, Which the nobles of the people hollowed out, With the scepter and with their staffs." And from the wilderness they continued to Mattanah,

and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,

and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the land of Moab, at the top of Pisgah, which overlooks the ^(F1)desert.

^(C1)Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying,

"^(C1)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."

^(C1)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 ^(C2)Jahaz and fought against Israel.

Then ^(C1)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 ^(C2)border of the sons of Ammon was ^(F1)Jazer.

Israel took all these cities, and ^(C1)Israel lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and in all her ^(F1)villages.

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.

For that reason those who use proverbs say, "Come to Heshbon! Let it be built! So let the city of Sihon be established.

-"^(C1)For a fire spread from Heshbon, A flame from the town of Sihon; It devoured ^(C2)Ar of Moab, The ^(F1)(C3)dominant ^(F2)heights of the Arnon.

-"^(C1)Woe to you, Moab! You are destroyed, people of ^(C2)Chemosh! ^(C3)He has given his sons as fugitives, ^(C4)And his daughters into captivity, To an Amorite king, Sihon.

-"But we have shot them down with arrows, Heshbon is destroyed as far as ^(C1)Dibon, Then we have laid waste as far as Nophah, Which reaches to Medeba."

So Israel lived in the land of the Amorites.

Now Moses sent men to spy out ^(C1)Jazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.

^(C1)Then they turned and went up by the way of Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan went out against them ^(F1)with all his people, for battle at ^(C2)Edrei.

But the LORD said to Moses, "^(C1)Do not fear him, for I have handed him over to you, and all his people and his land; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon."

So ^(C1)they ^(F1)killed him and his sons and all his people, until there was no survivor left; and they took possession of his land.

Then Balaam said to Balak, "Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here."

Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.

Then Balaam said to Balak, "Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps the LORD will come to meet me, and whatever He shows me I will tell you." So he went to a bare hill.

Now God met with Balaam, and he said to Him, "I have set up the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on each altar."

Then the LORD ^(C1)put a word in Balaam's mouth and said, "Return to Balak, and this is what you shall speak."

So he returned to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, he and all the leaders of Moab.

And he took up his discourse and said, "From ^(C1)Aram Balak has brought me, Moab's king from the mountains of the East, saying, '^(C2)Come, declare Jacob cursed for me, And come, curse Israel!'

-"^(C1)How am I to put a curse on him upon whom God has not put a curse? And how am I to curse him whom the LORD has not cursed?

-"For I see him from the top of the rocks, And I look at him from the hills; ^(C1)Behold, a people that lives in isolation, And does not consider itself to be among the nations.

-"^(C1)Who has counted the dust of Jacob, Or the number of the fourth part of Israel? ^(C2)May ^(F1)I die the death of the upright, ^(C3)And may my end be like his!"

Then Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? ^(C1)I took you to put a curse on my enemies, but behold, you have actually blessed them!"

He replied, "Must I not be careful to speak ^(C1)what the LORD puts in my mouth?"

Then Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place from where you may see them, although you will only see the extreme end of them and will not see all of them; and put a curse on them for me from there."

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

Then he said to Balak, "Stand here beside your burnt offering while I myself meet the LORD over there."

Then the LORD met Balaam and ^(C1)put a word in his mouth, and said, "Return to Balak, and this is what you shall speak."

So he came to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, and the leaders of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, "What has the LORD spoken?"

Then he took up his discourse and said, "Arise, Balak, and hear; Listen to me, son of Zippor!

-"^(C1)God is not a man, that He would lie, Nor a son of man, that He would change His mind; ^(C2)Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

-"Behold, I have received a command to bless; ^(C1)When He has blessed, ^(C2)I cannot revoke it.

-"^(C1)He has not looked at misfortune in Jacob; ^(C2)Nor has He seen trouble in Israel; ^(C3)The LORD his God is with him, ^(C4)And the joyful shout of a king is among them.

-"^(C1)God brings them out of Egypt, He is for them like the ^(C2)horns of the wild ox.

-"^(C1)For there is no magic curse against Jacob, Nor is there any divination against Israel; At the proper time it shall be said to Jacob And to Israel, what God has done!

-"^(C1)Behold, a people rises like a lioness, And like a lion it raises itself; It will not lie down until it devours the prey, And drinks the blood of those slain."

Then Balak said to Balaam, "Do not curse them at all nor bless them at all!"

But Balaam replied to Balak, "Did I not tell you, '^(F1)(C1)Whatever the LORD speaks, I must do'?"

Then Balak said to Balaam, "Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will be ^(F1)agreeable with God that you curse them for me from there."

So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the ^(F1)desert.

And Balaam said to Balak, "Build seven altars for me here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here."

Balak did just as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.