Passage Through Edom Refused

^14 (A)Now Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of ^(B)Edom. ^(C)“Thus says your brother Israel: ‘You know all the hardship that has befallen us, ^15 (D)how our fathers went down to Egypt, ^(E)and we dwelt in Egypt a long time, ^(F)and the Egyptians ^[a]afflicted us and our fathers. ^16 (G)When we cried out to the Lord, He heard our voice and ^(H)sent the Angel and brought us up out of Egypt; now here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your border. ¹⁷ Please ^(I)let us pass through your country. We will not pass through fields or vineyards, nor will we drink water from wells; we will go along the King’s Highway; we will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.’ ”

¹⁸ Then ^(J)Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through my land, lest I come out against you with the sword.”

¹⁹ So the children of Israel said to him, “We will go by the Highway, and if I or my livestock drink any of your water, ^(K)then I will pay for it; let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.”

²⁰ Then he said, ^(L)“You shall not pass through.” So Edom came out against them with many men and with a strong hand. ²¹ Thus Edom ^(M)refused to give Israel passage through his territory; so Israel ^(N)turned away from him.

Death of Aaron

²² Now the children of Israel, the whole congregation, journeyed from ^(O)Kadesh ^(P)and came to Mount Hor. ²³ And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying: ²⁴ “Aaron shall ^[b]be ^(Q)gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against My word at the water of Meribah. ^25 (R)Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor; ²⁶ and strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; for Aaron shall be gathered to his people and die there.” ²⁷ So Moses did just as the Lord commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. ^28 (S)Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; and ^(T)Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. ²⁹ Now when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, all the house of Israel mourned for Aaron ^(U)thirty days.

Canaanites Defeated at Hormah

21 The ^(A)king of Arad, the Canaanite, who dwelt in the South, heard that Israel was coming on the road to Atharim. Then he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoners. ^2 (B)So Israel made a vow to the Lord, and said, “If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then ^(C)I will utterly destroy their cities.” ³ And the Lord listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of that place was called ^[a]Hormah.

The Bronze Serpent

⁴ Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to ^(D)go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very ^[b]discouraged on the way. ⁵ And the people ^(E)spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul ^[c]loathes this worthless bread.” ⁶ So ^(F)the Lord sent ^(G)fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.

^7 (H)Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have ^(I)sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; ^(J)pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(K)“Make a ^(L)fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” ⁹ So ^(M)Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.