Two Victories

^21 (A)Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying, ²² “^(B)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 highway until we have passed through your border.” ^23 (C)But Sihon would not permit Israel to pass through his border. So Sihon gathered all his people and went out against Israel in the wilderness, and came to ^(D)Jahaz and fought against Israel. ²⁴ Then ^(E)Israel ^[a]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 ^(F)border of the sons of Ammon was ^[b]Jazer. ²⁵ Israel took all these cities and ^(G)Israel lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all her ^[c]villages. ²⁶ 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. ²⁷ Therefore those who use proverbs say,

³¹ Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites. ³² Moses sent to spy out ^(P)Jazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.

²⁶ “^(A)So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, ²⁷ ‘Let me pass through your land, I will ^[a]travel only on the highway; I will not turn aside to the right or to the left. ²⁸ You will sell me food for money so that I may eat, and give me water for money so that I may drink, ^(B)only let me pass through on ^[b]foot, ²⁹ just as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in ^(C)Ar did for me, until I cross over the Jordan into the land which the Lord our God is giving to us.’ ³⁰ But ^(D)Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass ^[c]through his land; for the ^(E)Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to deliver him into your hand, as he is today. ³¹ The Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his land ^[d]over to you. Begin to ^[e]occupy, that you may possess his land.’

³² “Then Sihon ^[f]with all his people came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz. ^33 (F)The Lord our God delivered him ^[g]over to us, and we ^[h](G)defeated him with his sons and all his people. ³⁴ So we captured all his cities at that time and ^[i](H)utterly destroyed ^[j]the men, women and children of every city. We left no survivor. ³⁵ We took ^(I)only the animals as our booty and the spoil of the cities which we had captured. ³⁶ From ^(J)Aroer which is on the edge of the ^[k]valley of Arnon and from the city which is in the ^[l]valley, even to Gilead, there was no city that was too high for us; the Lord our God delivered all ^[m]over to us.