Remembering Israel’s Wanderings

2 “Then we turned around and headed back across the wilderness toward the Red Sea,^[a] just as the Lord had instructed me, and we wandered around in the region of Mount Seir for a long time.

² “Then at last the Lord said to me, ³ ‘You have been wandering around in this hill country long enough; turn to the north. ⁴ Give these orders to the people: “You will pass through the country belonging to your relatives the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. The Edomites will feel threatened, so be careful. ⁵ Do not bother them, for I have given them all the hill country around Mount Seir as their property, and I will not give you even one square foot of their land. ⁶ If you need food to eat or water to drink, pay them for it. ⁷ For the Lord your God has blessed you in everything you have done. He has watched your every step through this great wilderness. During these forty years, the Lord your God has been with you, and you have lacked nothing.”’

⁸ “So we bypassed the territory of our relatives, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We avoided the road through the Arabah Valley that comes up from Elath and Ezion-geber.

“Then as we turned north along the desert route through Moab,

³⁷ They left Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor, at the border of Edom. ³⁸ While they were at the foot of Mount Hor, Aaron the priest was directed by the Lord to go up the mountain, and there he died. This happened in midsummer, on the first day of the fifth month^[a] of the fortieth year after Israel’s departure from Egypt. ³⁹ Aaron was 123 years old when he died there on Mount Hor.

⁴⁰ At that time the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev in the land of Canaan, heard that the people of Israel were approaching his land.

⁴¹ Meanwhile, the Israelites left Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah.

⁴² Then they left Zalmonah and camped at Punon.

⁴³ They left Punon and camped at Oboth.

⁴⁴ They left Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim on the border of Moab.

³⁶ When King Balak heard that Balaam was on the way, he went out to meet him at a Moabite town on the Arnon River at the farthest border of his land.

The Bronze Snake

⁴ Then the people of Israel set out from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Sea^[a] to go around the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient with the long journey, ⁵ and they began to speak against God and Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained. “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!”

⁶ So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died. ⁷ Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people.

⁸ Then the Lord told him, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!” ⁹ So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!

Israel’s Journey to Moab

¹⁰ The Israelites traveled next to Oboth and camped there. ¹¹ Then they went on to Iye-abarim, in the wilderness on the eastern border of Moab. ¹² From there they traveled to the valley of Zered Brook and set up camp. ¹³ Then they moved out and camped on the far side of the Arnon River, in the wilderness adjacent to the territory of the Amorites. The Arnon is the boundary line between the Moabites and the Amorites.

The Death of Aaron

²² The whole community of Israel left Kadesh and arrived at Mount Hor.