Numbers 21:1-21

English Standard Version

Arad Destroyed

21 When ^(A)the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in ^(B)the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive. ^2 (C)And Israel vowed a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed give this people into my hand, then I will devote their cities to destruction.”^{[a] 3} And the Lord heeded the voice of Israel and gave over the Canaanites, and they devoted them and their cities to destruction. So the name of the place was called ^(D)Hormah.^[b]

The Bronze Serpent

⁴ From Mount Hor ^(E)they set out by the way to the Red Sea, ^(F)to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. ⁵ And the people ^(G)spoke against God and against Moses, ^(H)“Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and ^(I)we loathe this worthless food.” ^6 (J)Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and ^(K)they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. ^7 (L)And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. ^(M)Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. ⁸ And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” ⁹ So ^(N)Moses made a bronze^[c] serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

The Song of the Well

¹⁰ And the people of Israel set out and ^(O)camped in Oboth. ^11 (P)And they set out from Oboth and ^(Q)camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness that is opposite Moab, toward the sunrise. ¹² From there they set out and camped in ^(R)the Valley of Zered. ¹³ From there they set out and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites, for the ^(S)Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. ¹⁴ Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord,

¹⁶ And from there they continued ^(U)to Beer;^[d] that is the well of which the Lord said to Moses, “Gather the people together, so that ^(V)I may give them water.” ¹⁷ Then Israel sang this song:

And from the wilderness they went on to Mattanah, ¹⁹ and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, ²⁰ and from Bamoth to the valley lying in the region of Moab by the top of Pisgah ^(X)that looks down on the desert.^[e]

King Sihon Defeated

²¹ Then ^(Y)Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,