Arad Destroyed
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When 1the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in 2the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive.
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3And 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
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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 4Hormah.b
The Bronze Serpent
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From Mount Hor 5they set out by the way to the Red Sea, 6to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way.
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And the people 7spoke against God and against Moses, 8"Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and 9we loathe this worthless food."
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10Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and 11they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.
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12And the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. 13Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people.
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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."
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So 14Moses made a bronzec 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
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16And they set out from Oboth and 17camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness that is opposite Moab, toward the sunrise.
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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 19Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.
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Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the LORD, "Waheb in Suphah, and the valleys of the Arnon,
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And from there they continued 21to Beer;d that is the well of which the LORD said to Moses, "Gather the people together, so that 22I may give them water."
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Then Israel sang this song: "Spring up, O well!--Sing to it!--
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the well that the princes made, that the nobles of the people dug, with 23the scepter and with their staffs."And from the wilderness they went on to Mattanah,
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and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,
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and from Bamoth to the valley lying in the region of Moab by the top of Pisgah 24that looks down on the desert.e
King Sihon Defeated
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26"Let me pass through your land. We will not turn aside into field or vineyard. We will not drink the water of a well. We will go by the King's Highway until we have passed through your territory."
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27But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. He gathered all his people together and went out against Israel to the wilderness and 28came to Jahaz and fought against Israel.
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29And Israel defeated him with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the 30Jabbok, as far as to the Ammonites, for the border of the Ammonites was strong.
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And Israel took all these cities, and Israel settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages.
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For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land out of his hand, as far as the Arnon.
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Therefore the 31ballad singers say, "Come to 32Heshbon, let it be built; let the city of Sihon be established.
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For 33fire came out from 34Heshbon, flame from the city of Sihon. It devoured 35Ar of Moab, and swallowedf the heights of the Arnon.
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36Woe to you, O Moab! You are undone, O people of 37Chemosh! He has made his sons fugitives, and his daughters captives, to an Amorite king, Sihon.
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So we overthrew them; Heshbon, as far as 38Dibon, perished; and we laid waste as far as Nophah; fire spread as far as 39Medeba."g
King Og Defeated
31
Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites.
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And Moses sent to spy out 40Jazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.
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Then they turned and went up by the way to Bashan. And Og the king of Bashan came out against them, he and all his people, to battle 41at Edrei.
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42But the LORD said to Moses, "Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand, and all his people, and his land. And 43you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon."
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So they defeated him and his sons and all his people, until he had no survivor left. And they possessed his land.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)