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The Defeat of King Sihon of Heshbon

(Numbers 21.21-30)

Moses said to Israel:

26 After we had crossed the Arnon and had set up camp in the Kedemoth Desert, I sent messengers to King Sihon of Heshbon, telling him that his nation and ours could be at peace. I said:

27 Please let Israel go across your country. We will walk straight through, without turning off the road. 28-29 You can even sell us food and water, and we will pay with silver. We need to reach the Jordan River and cross it, because the Lord our God is giving us the land on the west side. The Edomites and Moabites[a] have already let us cross their land. Please let us cross your land as well.

30-31 But Sihon refused to let us go across his country, because the Lord made him stubborn and eager to fight us. The Lord told me, “I am going to help you defeat Sihon and take his land, so attack him!”

32 We met Sihon and his army in battle at Jahaz, 33 and the Lord our God helped us defeat them. We killed Sihon, his sons, and everyone else in his army. 34 Then we captured and destroyed every town in Sihon's kingdom, killing everyone, 35 but keeping the livestock and everything else of value. 36 The Lord helped us capture every town from the Arnon River gorge north to the boundary of Gilead, including the town of Aroer on the edge of the gorge and the town in the middle of the gorge.

37 However, we stayed away from all the Ammonite towns, both in the hill country and near the Jabbok River, just as the Lord had commanded.

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Footnotes

  1. 2.28,29 Edomites and Moabites: Hebrew “descendants of Esau, who live in Seir and Moabites who live in Ar.”

26 From the Desert of Kedemoth(A) I sent messengers to Sihon(B) king of Heshbon offering peace(C) and saying, 27 “Let us pass through your country. We will stay on the main road; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left.(D) 28 Sell us food to eat(E) and water to drink for their price in silver. Only let us pass through on foot(F) 29 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 the Lord our God is giving us.” 30 But Sihon king of Heshbon refused to let us pass through. For the Lord(G) your God had made his spirit stubborn(H) and his heart obstinate(I) in order to give him into your hands,(J) as he has now done.

31 The Lord said to me, “See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his country over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land.”(K)

32 When Sihon and all his army came out to meet us in battle(L) at Jahaz, 33 the Lord our God delivered(M) him over to us and we struck him down,(N) together with his sons and his whole army. 34 At that time we took all his towns and completely destroyed[a](O) them—men, women and children. We left no survivors. 35 But the livestock(P) and the plunder(Q) from the towns we had captured we carried off for ourselves. 36 From Aroer(R) on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the gorge, even as far as Gilead,(S) not one town was too strong for us. The Lord our God gave(T) us all of them. 37 But in accordance with the command of the Lord our God,(U) you did not encroach on any of the land of the Ammonites,(V) neither the land along the course of the Jabbok(W) nor that around the towns in the hills.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 2:34 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.