Numbers 21:2-27

²And Israel bound himself by a vow to the Lord, and said, If thou shalt betake this people in mine hand, I shall do away their cities.

³And the Lord heard the prayers of Israel, and betook to them the Canaanites; and Israel killed him, and destroyed his cities; and Israel called the name of that place Hormah, that is, cursing.

⁴Soothly Israel went forth from the hill of Hor, by the way that leadeth to the Red Sea, that they would compass the land of Edom; and it began to annoy the people, of the way and of the travail.

⁵And the people spake against the Lord, and Moses, and said, Why leddest thou us out of Egypt, that we should die in wilderness? bread faileth, waters be not; our soul loatheth now on this meat most light.

⁶Wherefore the Lord sent fired serpents or fiery adders into the people; at the wounds of which serpents, and the deaths of full many men,

⁷they came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we spake against the Lord, and thee; pray thou, that he take away from us the serpents. And Moses prayed for the people;

⁸and the Lord said to him, Make thou a brazen serpent, and set thou it in a perch; he that is smitten and beholdeth it, shall live.

⁹Therefore Moses made a serpent of brass, and setted in a perch; and men hurt, and beholding it, were healed.

¹⁰And the sons of Israel went forth, and setted tents in Oboth;

¹¹from whence they went forth, and setted tents in Iyeabarim, in the wilderness that beholdeth Moab, against the east coast.

¹²And they moved from thence, and came to the strand of Zared;

¹³which they left, and setted tents against Arnon, which is in the desert, and it appeareth in the coasts of Amorites. Forsooth Arnon is the term of Moab, and parteth Moabites and Amorites.

¹⁴Wherefore it is said in the book of battles of the Lord, As he did in the Red Sea, so he shall do in the strands of Arnon;

¹⁵the hard rocks of the strands were bowed down, that they shall rest in Ar, or abide there, and should lie in the coasts of Moabites.

¹⁶From that place the pit appeared, of which the Lord spake to Moses, Gather thou together the people, and I shall give water to it.

¹⁷Then Israel sang this song, The water of the pit, ascend or go up; they sang together,

¹⁸The pit which the princes digged, and the dukes of the multitude made ready, in the giver of the law, and in their staves. And they went forth from the wilderness to Mattanah,

¹⁹from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel into Bamoth;

²⁰Bamoth is a valley in the country of Moab, in the top of Pisgah, that beholdeth against the desert.

²¹Soothly Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of Amorites, and said,

²²I beseech thee, that it be leaveful to me to pass through thy land; we shall not bow into thy fields, and vineries or vines; we shall not drink waters of thy pits; we shall go in the king’s way, till we pass by thy terms.

²³Which would not grant that Israel should pass through his coasts, but rather, when his host was gathered, he went out against Israel, into desert. And he came into Jahaz, and fought against Israel;

²⁴of whom he was smitten in the sharpness of sword, and his land was wielded of Israel from Arnon unto Jabbok, and Ammon’s sons, or his host; for the coasts of Ammonites were holden with strong help, or power.

²⁵Therefore Israel took all his cities, and dwelled in the cities of Amorites, that is, in Heshbon, and in his towns.

²⁶The city of Heshbon was Sihon’s, king of Amorites, which Sihon fought against the king of Moab, and took all the land that was of his lordship, till to Arnon.

²⁷Therefore it is said in proverb, Come ye into Heshbon, be it builded, and made, the city of Sihon;