Israel Defeats Sihon, King of Heshbon

²⁶ “I sent messengers from the desert of Kedemoth to King Sihon of Heshbon with this message of peace: ²⁷ ‘Let me pass through your territory. I’ll stay on the main road. I won’t turn to the right or left. ²⁸ Sell me food for cash,^[a] so I can eat and give me water for cash,^[b] so I can drink. Just let me pass through on foot, ²⁹ as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir did for me, as did the Moabites who live in Ar. I’ll pass through,^[c] until I will have crossed the Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is about to give us.’ ³⁰ But King Sihon of Heshbon did not allow us to pass through, because the Lord your God had hardened his spirit and made him arrogant,^[d] in order to deliver him into your control today.

³¹ “Then the Lord told me, ‘See, I’ve begun to deliver Sihon and his territory over to you. Prepare to take possession of his land.’

³² “Sihon came out to meet us, including his entire army, at the battle of Jahaz. ³³ The Lord our God delivered him to us, so we attacked him, his son, and his whole army. ³⁴ We captured all his towns at that time. We utterly destroyed every town—the men, the women, and the children—leaving no survivors. ³⁵ We only appropriated the livestock for our use, along with plunder from the cities that we captured. ³⁶ From Aroer on the edge of Arnon Valley and from the town all the way to Gilead, there was no city that was too strong for us—the Lord our God delivered them all to us. ³⁷ You did not encroach onto Ammonite land, the banks of the Wadi^[e] Jabbok, the towns in the hill country, and all the other places that were forbidden^[f] by the Lord our God.”