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21 ‎[1] **The Canaanite, king of Arad, who lives in the South, **to the west of Israel’s route, **heard that Israel came via Atarim, **a place that perhaps served as one of the entrances to Canaan. According to the Sages, the king of Arad ruled over a mixed population of Amalekites and Canaanites. 21 **And he fought against Israel, and **although this was not a particularly large-scale war, the people were dispirited by Aaron’s recent death, 22 and the king **took a captive from them. **
‎[2] **Israel took a vow to the Lord, and said: If You will deliver this people into my hand, I will destroy their cities. **None of us will take from the spoils.
‎[3] **The Lord heeded the voice of Israel, and delivered the Canaanites **into their hands; **it destroyed [ *vayah **· *] them and their cities; and **from then onward, **it, **the people, **called the name of the place Horma, **after the destruction [ *ĥerem *]. Some commentaries say that it was called by that name because after its destruction, no permanent settlement was ever erected there. 23
‎[4] **They, **the children of Israel, **traveled from Hor Mountain via the Red Sea. **They turned southward, toward the modern-day Gulf of Aqaba, in order **to circumvent the land of Edom. The soul of the people grew restive on the way, **as they appeared to be heading away from Canaan. 24
‎[5] **The people spoke **harshly **against God and against Moses: Why did you bring us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness, for there is no **real **bread and there is no **natural **water, and our soul loathes this insubstantial bread, **the manna.
‎[6] **The Lord sent the fiery serpents **whose poison burns human
‎[7] **The people came to Moses, and they said: We sinned, for we spoke against the Lord, and against you; pray to the Lord, and He will remove the serpents from us. **Unlike on earlier occasions when the people complained about their situation in a rebellious spirit, this time the people accepted responsibility for their current state. **Moses prayed on behalf of the people. **
‎[8] **The Lord said to Moses: Craft for yourself a fiery, **poisonous **serpent, and place it upon a standard, **or a tall pillar; **it shall be that anyone who was bitten **by a serpent **will see it and live. **
‎[9] **Moses crafted a bronze serpent. **Although God did not tell Moses with which material to fashion the serpent, Moses chose to use bronze [ *neĥoshet *] due to its similarity to the word *naĥash *, serpent, as if God’s instructions alluded to the metal he should use. 25 Alternatively, he did not want to use a precious metal, as that might have led the people to deify the serpent. **And **Moses **placed it on the standard and it was that if a serpent bit a man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. **
‎[10] **The children of Israel traveled and encamped in Ovot. **
‎[11] **They traveled from Ovot, and encamped at Iyei HaAvarim, **the ruins of the passageways [ *ma’abarim *] between Moav and the Emorites, 26 **in the wilderness that is before Moav, to the east **of Moav **toward the sun. **
‎[12] **From there they traveled **north, **and encamped in the Zered Ravine, **which descends from the mountains of modern-day Jordan.
‎[13] **From there they traveled and encamped across the Arnon, which is in the wilderness, that emerges from the border of the Emorites, for Arnon is the border of Moav, between Moav and the Emorites. **
‎[14] **Therefore, it is said in the book of the Wars of the Lord: Vahev, **the name of a place, 27 the children of Israel conquered **by storm, and **also **the tributaries of the Arnon **;
‎[15] **the outpouring of the streams that tended toward the settled area of Ar, **an important Moavite city, **and **this estuary **abuts the border of Moav. **
‎[16] **From there **Israel traveled **to the well; that is the well where the Lord said to Moses: Assemble the people, and I will give them water. **It is possible that this is the well that opened for them at the incident of the water of dispute (20:11–13).
‎[17] **Then Israel sang this song: Rise, well; give voice for it, **in honor of the well.
‎[18] **A well that princes dug, the nobles of the people excavated, with a ruler’s staff, **meaning with the staffs in their hands, which symbolized their leadership, and **with their canes. **This was not a typical well dug by common laborers. The verse now proceeds with a list of places through which Israel passed: **And from the wilderness **they journeyed **to **a place called **Matana **, perhaps because of the abundance that was found there. 29
‎[19] **And from Matana **they came **to **a place called **Nahaliel, **after its streams [ *neĥalim *]; **and from Nahaliel to Bamot, **which was probably an elevated area, like a *bima *, platform;
‎[20] **and from Bamot **they traveled **to the canyon that is in the field of Moav, **and **at the top of the peak **above, one could see Moav on one side, **and **the other side **overlooks the surface of the desert, **east of Moav.
‎[21] **Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Emorites, saying: **
‎[22] **Let me pass in your land; we will not turn to a field or to a vineyard; we will not drink well water **from your wells; **we will go on the king’s way, **the public thoroughfares that pass through the cities. 30 Alternatively, we will go on whatever road you instruct us to use, 31 **until we will pass your border **on the way to Canaan.
‎[23] **Sihon did not allow Israel to pass in his border. **Perhaps he was emboldened to refuse Israel safe passage because they
‎[24] **Israel smote him by sword, and took possession of his land from **the **Arnon **Ravine, on the border of Moav, **until **the **Yabok **Ravine, 32 **until the children of Amon; for the border of the children of Amon was strongly defended **and closed to them.
‎[25] **Israel took all these cities **in Sihon’s land, **and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Emorites, in **the city of **Heshbon, and in all its environs. **
‎[26] **For Heshbon was the city of Sihon, king of the Emorites; he, **Sihon, **fought against the first king of Moav, and took all his land from his possession, until Arnon, **including the city of Heshbon, which changed hands several times.
‎[27] **Therefore, the allegorists will say. **These allegorists were ancient poets who spoke in metaphor and parable, 33 and sang songs of the heroism displayed by the Emorites during their victorious wars against Moav. They will say: **Come, **let us go **to **conquer **Heshbon. The city of Sihon will be built and established **in this place, on the spot of the Moavite Heshbon.
‎[28] **For a fire emerged from Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon. **After Heshbon was captured by the Emorites, it became known as the city of Sihon. The allegorists called for the heat of battle to continue from Heshbon to the other Moavite cities: **It consumed Ar, **a city **of Moav, **and **the shrines of the high places of Arnon. **The ancient song reiterated the small territory held by Moav at that time: Arnon was its northern border, as Heshbon, further north and formerly a Moavite city, had already been conquered by the Emorites.
‎[29] **Woe to you, Moav, you are lost, people of Kemosh, **god of Moav. **He, **Kemosh, **has rendered his sons refugees, and his daughters are in captivity, to the Emorite king, Sihon. **
‎[30] **Their fields were lost from Heshbon until Divon, **another Moavite city. 34 Alternatively, the verse means: Their authority was lost from Heshbon and removed from Divon. 35 Or the verse means: We cast them from Heshbon until Divon. 36 **And we laid waste till Nofah that reaches to Medva. **The poets depict Sihon’s great victory over Moav, in which the border of Moav was pushed southward, and the entire region between the Arnon and Yabok Ravines became Emorite territory. When the Israelites conquered Sihon, they settled in this area.
‎[31] **Israel dwelt in the land of the Emorites, **which was not densely populated, but was mainly pasture and farmland.
‎[32] **Moses sent to spy out Yazer, **which was also in the land of Sihon. **They **first **captured its environs, **the small settlements surrounding the city, after which they captured Yazer itself, **and dispossessed the Emorites who were there. **
‎[33] Once the children of Israel had conquered the land of Sihon, they continued to move northward. Later, they would travel back south, cross the Jordan River,and enter the land of Canaan near Jericho
**They turned and ascended via the Bashan, **the broad and fertile region which includes the modern-day Golan Heights. The Bashan extends from the Yarmuk River in the south to Mount Hermon, with the Jordan Valley and the Sea of Galilee on the west and Jabal al-Druze on the east. **And Og, king of Bashan, **also an Emorite king, 37 **came out against them, he and his entire people, to the battle **against Israel **at **the city of **Edre’i. **
‎[34] **The Lord said to Moses: Do not fear him. **Og, and perhaps those in the surrounding areas, were “from the rest of the Refaim,” 38 a race of giants. Some members of this race lived on the western side of the Jordan, and it is they who caused the spies of Israel to be afraid (13:33). God therefore tells Moses not to fear. **For I have delivered him into your hand, him and his entire people, and his land; you shall do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Emorites, who lives in Heshbon. **
‎[35] **They smote him, and his sons, and his entire people, until they left no remnant of him; and they took possession of his land. **
Version: The Steinsaltz Tanakh - English
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License: Copyright: Steinsaltz Center