Numbers 21 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

Canaanites Defeated at Hormah

The Fiery Serpents

Num 21:1The king of Arad, the Canaanite, who dwelt in the South, heard that Israel was coming on the road to Atharim. Then he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoners.

Num 21:2

Num 21:2So Israel made a vow to the LORD, and said, “If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.”

Num 21:3

Num 21:3And the LORD listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of that place was called Hormah.[fn]

The Bronze Serpent

Num 21:4

Num 21:4Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way.

Num 21:5

Num 21:5And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.”

Num 21:6

Num 21:6So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.

Num 21:7

Num 21:7Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

Num 21:8

Num 21:8Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.”

Num 21:9

Num 21:9So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

From Mount Hor to Moab

Num 21:10

Num 21:10Now the children of Israel moved on and camped in Oboth.

Num 21:11

Num 21:11And they journeyed from Oboth and camped at Ije Abarim, in the wilderness which is east of Moab, toward the sunrise.

Num 21:12

Num 21:12From there they moved and camped in the Valley of Zered.

Num 21:13

Num 21:13From there they moved and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites; for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.

Num 21:14

Num 21:14Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the LORD:

“Waheb in Suphah,[fn]
The brooks of the Arnon,

Num 21:15

Num 21:15And the slope of the brooks
That reaches to the dwelling of Ar,
And lies on the border of Moab.”

Num 21:16

Num 21:16From there they went to Beer, which is the well where the LORD said to Moses, “Gather the people together, and I will give them water.”

Num 21:17

Num 21:17Then Israel sang this song:

“Spring up, O well!
All of you sing to it—

Num 21:18

Num 21:18The well the leaders sank,
Dug by the nation’s nobles,
By the lawgiver, with their staves.”
And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah,

Num 21:19

Num 21:19from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth,

Num 21:20

Num 21:20and from Bamoth, in the valley that is in the country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah which looks down on the wasteland.[fn]

King Sihon Defeated

(Deut. 2:26–37 )

Num 21:21

Num 21:21Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,

Num 21:22

Num 21:22“Let me pass through your land. We will not turn aside into fields or vineyards; we will not drink water from wells. We will go by the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”

Num 21:23

Num 21:23But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his people together and went out against Israel in the wilderness, and he came to Jahaz and fought against Israel.

Num 21:24

Num 21:24Then Israel defeated him with the edge of the sword, and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the people of Ammon; for the border of the people of Ammon was fortified.

Num 21:25

Num 21:25So Israel took all these cities, and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and in all its villages.

Num 21:26

Num 21:26For Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and had taken all his land from his hand as far as the Arnon.

Num 21:27

Num 21:27Therefore those who speak in proverbs say:

“Come to Heshbon, let it be built;
Let the city of Sihon be repaired.

Num 21:28

Num 21:28“For fire went out from Heshbon,
A flame from the city of Sihon;
It consumed Ar of Moab,
The lords of the heights of the Arnon.

Num 21:29

Num 21:29Woe to you, Moab!
You have perished, O people of Chemosh!
He has given his sons as fugitives,
And his daughters into captivity,
To Sihon king of the Amorites.

Num 21:30

Num 21:30“But we have shot at them;
Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon.
Then we laid waste as far as Nophah,
Which reaches to Medeba.”

Num 21:31

Num 21:31Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites.

Num 21:32

Num 21:32Then Moses sent to spy out Jazer; and they took its villages and drove out the Amorites who were there.

King Og Defeated

(Deut. 3:1–22 )

Num 21:33

Num 21:33And they turned and went up by the way to Bashan. So Og king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.

Num 21:34

Num 21:34Then the LORD said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have delivered him into your hand, with all his people and his land; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.”

Num 21:35

Num 21:35So they defeated him, his sons, and all his people, until there was no survivor left him; and they took possession of his land.

See the NKJV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NKJV Footnotes

(21:3)

Literally Utter Destruction

(21:14)

Ancient unknown places; Vulgate reads What He did in the Red Sea.

(21:20)

Hebrew Jeshimon

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