1 When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was approaching by the road to Atharim, he attacked Israel and took some of them captive.
2 Then Israel made a vow to the LORD: "If you will truly hand this people over to me, I will devote their towns to destruction."
3 The LORD heeded Israel's plea and handed the Canaanites over, and they devoted them and their towns to destruction. So the place was named Hormah.
4 They moved on from Mount Hor by the road to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom, and the people grew impatient on the way.
5 The people spoke against God and against Moses: "Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread and no water, and we are sick of this miserable food!"
6 So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people; they bit the people, and many of the people of Israel died.
7 The people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD to take the serpents away from us." So Moses prayed for the people.
8 The LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent and put it on a pole. Anyone who has been bitten and looks at it will live."
9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the pole; whenever a serpent bit someone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
10 The children of Israel moved on and encamped at Oboth.
11 They moved on from Oboth and encamped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness facing Moab toward the sunrise.
12 From there they moved on and encamped in the Valley of Zered.
13 From there they moved on and encamped beyond the Arnon, in the wilderness that stretches out from the territory of the Amorites; the Arnon is Moab's border, between Moab and the Amorites.
14 That is why the Book of the Wars of the LORD speaks of "Waheb in Suphah and the wadis of the Arnon,
15 and the slope of the wadis that turns toward the settlement of Ar and lies along the border of Moab."
16 From there they went on to Beer, the well where the LORD said to Moses, "Gather the people, and I will give them water."
17 Then Israel sang this song: "Spring up, O well! Sing out to it!
18 The well the princes dug, the nobles of the people hollowed out, with a scepter, with their staffs." From the wilderness they went on to Mattanah,
19 from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth,
20 and from Bamoth to the valley in the territory of Moab near the summit of Pisgah, which overlooks Jeshimon.
21 Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites with this message:
22 "Let me cross your land. We will not turn off into any field or vineyard or drink water from any well. We will keep to the King's Highway until we have crossed your territory."
23 But Sihon would not let Israel cross his territory. He gathered all his people and marched out into the wilderness against Israel; he reached Jahaz and fought with Israel.
24 Israel put him to the sword and took over his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the Ammonites, because the Ammonite border was strongly held.
25 Israel captured all these towns and settled in all the towns of the Amorites, in Heshbon and all its dependent villages.
26 Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought the former king of Moab and taken all his land from him as far as the Arnon.
27 That is why the ballad singers say, "Come to Heshbon! Let it be rebuilt; let Sihon's city be restored.
28 For fire went out from Heshbon, flame from Sihon's city; it devoured Ar of Moab, the masters of the heights of the Arnon.
29 Woe to you, Moab! You are lost, people of Chemosh! He has given up his sons as fugitives and his daughters as captives to Sihon king of the Amorites.
30 But we shot them down; Heshbon is destroyed as far as Dibon; we laid them waste as far as Nophah, which reaches to Medeba."
31 So Israel settled in the land of the Amorites.
32 Moses sent men to scout out Jazer; they captured its villages and drove out the Amorites living there.
33 Then they turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og king of Bashan marched out with all his people to meet them in battle at Edrei.
34 The LORD said to Moses, "Do not be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you, with all his people and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon."
35 So they struck him down, along with his sons and all his people, until not one survivor was left him, and they took possession of his land.