Beginning
The Israelites destroy the Canaanites
21 The king of Arad city lived in the Negev desert. That was in the south part of Canaan. People told him that the Israelites were coming on the road to Atharim. So he attacked the Israelites and he caught some of them. 2 The Israelites made this promise to the Lord: ‘If you put these people under our power, we will destroy their towns for you.’ 3 The Lord accepted the Israelites' promise. He put the Canaanites under their power. The Israelites destroyed them and all their towns. After that, the place was called Hormah.[a]
The bronze snake
4 The Israelites left Hor mountain. They travelled round the edge of Edom to the Red Sea. As they travelled, the people were upset. 5 They complained to God and to Moses, ‘You should not have brought us from Egypt to die here in the desert. There is nothing to eat. There is no water to drink. We do not like this bad food, manna.’
6 Then the Lord sent snakes among the people. They bit the people and many of the Israelites died. 7 So the people came to Moses and they said, ‘We did a bad thing when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Please pray to the Lord on our behalf. Ask him to remove the snakes from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people.
8 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a model of a snake and put it up high on a pole. When a snake bites anyone, they must look at the bronze snake. Then they will not die.’ 9 Moses made a bronze snake and he put it on a pole. When a snake bit anyone and they looked at the bronze snake, they did not die.
The Israelites travel to Moab
10 The Israelites put up their tents at Oboth. 11 Then they travelled from Oboth, and they put up their tents at Iye-Abarim, in the desert. That place is on the east border of the country called Moab. 12 Then they put up their tents in Zered valley. 13 Then they left there and they put up their tents on the north side of the River Arnon. The River Arnon is the border between the Moabites and the Amorites. 14 You can read about this in the Book of the Lord's Wars. It talks about Waheb in Suphah and about the valleys of the River Arnon. 15 It also speaks about the sides of the valleys on the border of Moab that lead to the town of Ar.
16 From there, the Israelites continued to travel until they arrived at Beer. That is the well where the Lord had said to Moses, ‘Bring the people together. Then I will give water to them.’ 17 The Israelites sang this song at that well:
‘Sing to this well.
Ask it to give water to us.
18 This was the well that our rulers dug.
Our leaders dug it with their sceptres and their ruler's sticks.’
After that, the Israelites went from the desert to Mattanah. 19 Then they went from Mattanah to Nahaliel. They went from Nahaliel to Bamoth. 20 They went from Bamoth to the valley in the region of Moab. They put up their tents near the top of Pisgah mountain that is high above the desert.[b]
The Israelites fight against Sihon and Og
21 The Israelites sent men with a message to Sihon, the king of the Amorites. 22 They said, ‘Please let us travel through your country. We will not go through any fields or through any vineyards. We will not even drink water from your wells. We will go along the main road. We will not leave that road on either side until we have gone through all your land.’
23 But Sihon would not let the Israelites travel through his land. Sihon and his army marched to Jahaz, in the desert. They attacked the Israelites there. 24 The Israelites fought against the army of Sihon and they won. They got power over the land from the River Arnon to the River Jabbok. But the border of the Ammonites' land had strong towns, so they could not go beyond them. 25 They got power over all the cities of the Amorites. Those cities included Heshbon and the towns round it. 26 Heshbon was the city of Sihon, the king of the Amorites. He had fought against the king of Moab. He took from the king of Moab the land as far as the River Arnon. 27 So the people who write songs wrote this:
‘Come to Heshbon and build it up again.
Build the city of Sihon again.
28 An army that was like a fire went out from Heshbon.
It was like a flame that went out from Sihon's city.
It destroyed Ar in Moab,
and everything on the hills near the River Arnon.
29 It will be very bad for you, people of Moab.
Sihon has killed you people who worship the god Chemosh.
Your god has let the king of the Amorites put you in prison.
30 But now, we have won against them!
We have destroyed Heshbon, and as far as Dibon.
We have killed them from Nophah to Medeba.’
31 So the Israelites stayed in the land of the Amorites. 32 Moses sent men to find the best way to attack Jazer. Then the Israelites attacked Jazer and the towns round it. They caused the Amorites who lived there to run away.
33 After that, the Israelites travelled towards Bashan. Og, the king of Bashan, marched out with his army to fight against them at Edrei.
34 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Do not be afraid of Og. I will put him under your power, as well as his army and his land. Attack him in the same way that you attacked Sihon, the king of the Amorites who ruled in Heshbon.’
35 So they killed Og and his sons and all his army. Nobody was left alive. Their land became the Israelites' land.
King Balak asks Balaam to help him
22 The Israelites travelled to Moab. They lived in tents at the side of the Jordan River. Jericho city was on the other side of the river.
2 The king of Moab at that time was Balak, the son of Zippor. He had seen what the Israelites did to the Amorites. 3 The people in Moab were afraid because there were so many Israelites. All the people in Moab became very afraid of the Israelites.
4 So the Moabites said to the leaders of the Midianites, ‘This large group of people will destroy everything round us. They will be like a bull that eats all the grass in a field!’
So Balak, the king of Moab, 5 sent men to get Balaam, the son of Beor. Balaam was living near the Euphrates river at Pethor. Balak told the men to say to Balaam, ‘A large group of people has come here from Egypt. They cover all the ground, everywhere. They have put up their tents near our land. 6 They are more powerful than I am. Come here and put a curse on them. If you do that, maybe I will win against them. Then I can chase them away from our land. I know that you have the authority to bless people or to curse them.’
7 The leaders of Moab and Midian went to find Balaam. They took the money to pay for Balaam's work. When they found him, they told him what Balak had said. 8 Balaam said to them, ‘Stay here tonight. I will talk to the Lord. Tomorrow, I will tell you his answer.’ So the Moabite officers stayed with Balaam.
9 Then God came to Balaam and he asked, ‘Who are these men who are staying with you?’
10 Balaam said to God, ‘Zippor's son Balak, the king of Moab, has sent a message to me. 11 He said, “A big group of people has come from Egypt and they cover all the ground. So please come and curse them for me. Then perhaps I will be able to fight them and send them away.” ’
12 God said to Balaam, ‘Do not agree to go with them. You must not curse those people. They are special people. I have blessed them.’
13 The next day, Balaam said to the officers from Moab, ‘Go back to Moab. The Lord told me that I should not go with you.’ 14 So the officers went back to Moab. They told King Balak that Balaam would not come with them.
15 Then Balak sent other officers to speak to Balaam. These officers were even more important than the first group, and there were more of them. 16 They said to Balaam, ‘King Balak says, “Do not let anything stop you from coming to me. 17 I will certainly make you rich and famous. I will do for you anything that you want. So please come and curse these people for me.” ’
18 Balaam said to them, ‘No, I will only do what the Lord tells me. I can do no more than that, and no less. Even if Balak gives me his house, all his gold and all his silver, I will only do what the Lord says. 19 Stay here tonight, as the other men did. I will talk to the Lord and see if he has anything more to tell me.’
20 That night, God said to Balaam, ‘These men have asked you to go with them, so go with them. But only do what I tell you.’
Balaam and his donkey
21 In the morning, Balaam prepared his donkey to travel. He went with the officers to Moab. 22 God was angry because Balaam went with the men. The angel of the Lord stood on the road to stop Balaam. Balaam was riding on his donkey and his two servants were with him. 23 The angel of the Lord was holding a sword. When the donkey saw the angel, it tried to leave the road and go into a field. Balaam hit the donkey to make it go back to the road.
24 Then the angel of the Lord stood on the road between two vineyards. The path was narrow there, with a wall on each side. 25 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it pushed against the wall. Balaam's foot became fixed between the donkey and the wall. So Balaam hit the donkey again.
26 Then the angel of the Lord moved on. He stood in a very narrow place where there was no space to turn round. 27 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord it lay down on the ground. Balaam was still sitting on the donkey and he became very angry. He hit the donkey with his stick. 28 Then the Lord caused the donkey to speak. It said, ‘What have I done to hurt you? Why have you hit me three times like that?’
29 Balaam said to the donkey, ‘You have made me look silly. If I had a sword in my hand now, I would kill you.’
30 The donkey said to Balaam, ‘I am your own donkey that you ride every day. Do I usually do things like this to you?’ Balaam said, ‘No.’
31 Then the Lord let Balaam see the angel of the Lord. He could see that the angel stood there with a sword in his hand. Balaam lay down with his face down towards the ground.
32 The angel of the Lord said to him, ‘You should not have hit your donkey like that! I have come here to stop you because you refuse to obey me. 33 Three times the donkey saw me and turned back. If it had not done that, I would have killed you. But I would not have killed your donkey.’
34 Then Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, ‘I have done a wrong thing. I did not realize that you were standing in the road to stop me. If you do not want me to continue, I will return to my home.’ 35 But the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, ‘Go with the men. But you must say only the words that I will tell you.’ So Balaam went with Balak's officers.
36 Balak heard the news that Balaam was coming. He went out to meet Balaam at the border of Moab's land. The town was beside the river Arnon. 37 Balak said to Balaam, ‘You should have come the first time that I sent men to get you. Why did you not come? Did you think that I could not pay you with enough good things?’
38 Balaam said to Balak, ‘Anyway, I have come to you now! But I cannot choose to say anything. I can only say the words that God tells me to speak.’
39 Balaam went with Balak to Kiriath-Huzoth. 40 When they arrived there, Balak killed bulls and sheep as a sacrifice. He sent some of the meat to Balaam and the officers who were with him. 41 The next day, Balak took Balaam to Bamoth-Baal. From there, Balaam could see some of the big group of the Israelites.
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