1 And the Canaanite — king Arad — dwelling in the south, heareth that Israel hath come the way of the Atharim, and he fighteth against Israel, and taketh [some] of them captive. 2 And Israel voweth a vow to Jehovah, and saith, 'If Thou dost certainly give this people into my hand, then I have devoted their cities;' 3 and Jehovah hearkeneth to the voice of Israel, and giveth up the Canaanite, and he devoteth them and their cities, and calleth the name of the place Hormah. 4 And they journey from mount Hor, the way of the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom, and the soul of the people is short in the way, 5 and the people speak against God, and against Moses, 'Why hast thou brought us up out of Egypt to die in a wilderness? for there is no bread, and there is no water, and our soul hath been weary of this light bread.' 6 And Jehovah sendeth among the people the burning serpents, and they bite the people, and much people of Israel die; 7 and the people come in unto Moses and say, 'We have sinned, for we have spoken against Jehovah, and against thee; pray unto Jehovah, and He doth turn aside from us the serpent;' and Moses prayeth in behalf of the people. 8 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Make for thee a burning [serpent], and set it on an ensign; and it hath been, every one who is bitten and hath seen it — he hath lived. 9 And Moses maketh a serpent of brass, and setteth it on the ensign, and it hath been, if the serpent hath bitten any man, and he hath looked expectingly unto the serpent of brass — he hath lived. 10 And the sons of Israel journey, and encamp in Oboth. 11 And they journey from Oboth, and encamp in Ije-Abarim, in the wilderness that [is] on the front of Moab, at the rising of the sun. 12 From thence they have journeyed, and encamp in the valley of Zared. 13 From thence they have journeyed, and encamp beyond Arnon, which [is] in the wilderness which is coming out of the border of the Amorite, for Arnon [is] the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorite; 14 therefore it is said in a book, 'The wars of Jehovah,' — 'Waheb in Suphah, And the brooks of Arnon; 15 And the spring of the brooks, Which turned aside to the dwelling of Ar, And hath leaned to the border of Moab.' 16 And from thence [they journeyed] to Beer; it [is] the well [concerning] which Jehovah said to Moses, 'Gather the people, and I give to them — water.' 17 Then singeth Israel this song, concerning the well — they have answered to it: 18 'A well — digged it have princes, Prepared it have nobles of the people, With the lawgiver, with their staves.' And from the wilderness [they journeyed] to Mattanah, 19 and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, 20 and from Bamoth in the valley which [is] in the field of Moab [to] the top of Pisgah, which hath looked on the front of the wilderness. 21 And Israel sendeth messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorite, saying, 22 'Let me pass through thy land, we do not turn aside into a field, or into a vineyard, we do not drink waters of a well; in the king's way we go, till that we pass over thy border.' 23 And Sihon hath not suffered Israel to pass through his border, and Sihon gathereth all his people, and cometh out to meet Israel into the wilderness, and cometh in to Jahaz, and fighteth against Israel. 24 And Israel smiteth him by the mouth of the sword, and possesseth his land from Arnon unto Jabbok — unto the sons of Ammon; for the border of the sons of Ammon [is] strong. 25 And Israel taketh all these cities, and Israel dwelleth in all the cities of the Amorite, in Heshbon, and in all its villages; 26 for Heshbon is a city of Sihon king of the Amorite, and he hath fought against the former king of Moab, and taketh all his land out of his hand, unto Arnon; 27 therefore those using similes say — 'Enter ye Heshbon, Let the city of Sihon be built and ready, 28 For fire hath gone out from Heshbon, A flame from the city of Sihon, It hath consumed Ar of Moab, Owners of the high places of Arnon. 29 Woe to thee, O Moab, Thou hast perished, O people of Chemosh, He hath given his sons who escape — Also his daughters — Into captivity, to a king of the Amorite — Sihon! 30 And we shoot them, Perished hath Heshbon unto Dibon, And we make desolate unto Nophah, Which [is] unto Medeba.' 31 And Israel dwelleth in the land of the Amorite, 32 and Moses sendeth to spy out Jaazer, and they capture its villages, and dispossess the Amorite who [is] there, 33 and turn and go up the way of Bashan, and Og king of Bashan cometh out to meet them, he and all his people, to battle, [at] Edrei. 34 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Fear him not, for into thy hand I have given him, and all his people, and his land, and thou hast done to him as thou hast done to Sihon king of the Amorite, who is dwelling in Heshbon.' 35 And they smite him, and his sons, and all his people, until he hath not left to him a remnant, and they possess his land.
Numbers · Young's Literal Translation
Numbers 21 Young's Literal Translation
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Moses
Drawn from the Nile, he led Israel out of Egypt and received God's Law.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 2–Deuteronomy 34
Og
The king of Bashan, last of the remnant of the Rephaim, who came out against Israel at Edrei and was struck down with his sons and his whole army.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 21:33–35; Deuteronomy 3:1; Deuteronomy 3:11
Sihon
The Amorite king who reigned in Heshbon, refused to let Israel pass through his land, fought Israel at Jahaz, and lost his territory from the Arnon to the Jabbok.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 21:21; Numbers 21:23–24; Deuteronomy 2:26
Cross references (32)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Numbers 33:40; Judges 1:16; Joshua 12:14; Joshua 7:5; Numbers 14:45
- 2 Judges 11:30; Genesis 28:20; 1 Samuel 1:11; Joshua 6:26; 2 Samuel 15:7–8
- 3 Numbers 14:45; Deuteronomy 1:44; Psalm 91:15; Psalm 102:17; Psalm 10:17
- 4 Exodus 6:9; Judges 11:18; Acts 14:22; Numbers 32:7; Numbers 32:9
- 5 Psalm 78:19; Exodus 17:2–3; Numbers 16:41; Numbers 16:13–14; Exodus 14:11
- 6 1 Corinthians 10:9; Deuteronomy 8:15; Jeremiah 8:17; Amos 9:3–4; Isaiah 30:6
- 7 Acts 8:24; Psalm 78:34; Exodus 8:8; Numbers 11:2; Exodus 8:28
- 8 John 3:14; Psalm 106:43–45; Psalm 145:8
- 9 John 3:14–15; Hebrews 12:2; John 6:40; 2 Kings 18:4; John 12:32
- 10 Numbers 33:43–45
- 12 Deuteronomy 2:13–14
- 13 Judges 11:18; Numbers 22:36; Isaiah 16:2; Numbers 21:14; Jeremiah 48:20
- 14 Joshua 10:13; 2 Samuel 1:18
- 15 Numbers 21:28; Deuteronomy 2:18; Deuteronomy 2:9; Deuteronomy 2:29; Isaiah 15:1
- 16 Numbers 20:8; Isaiah 41:17–18; Isaiah 12:3; Judges 9:21; Revelation 22:17
- 17 Psalm 105:2; Judges 5:1; Psalm 106:12; James 5:13; Isaiah 12:1–2
- 18 Isaiah 33:22; Deuteronomy 33:4; Deuteronomy 5:31; James 4:12; John 1:17
- 20 Numbers 23:28; Numbers 23:14; Numbers 22:1; Numbers 33:49–50; Numbers 26:63
- 21 Deuteronomy 2:26–28; Judges 11:19–21; Numbers 20:14–19
- 22 Numbers 20:17
- 23 Judges 11:20; Deuteronomy 29:7–8; Jeremiah 48:34; Numbers 20:21; Deuteronomy 2:30–32
- 24 Amos 2:9; Nehemiah 9:22; Genesis 32:22; Joshua 24:8; Psalm 136:19
- 25 Deuteronomy 2:12; Ezekiel 16:53; Jeremiah 48:34; Numbers 21:31; Song of Songs 7:4
- 27 Isaiah 14:4; Habakkuk 2:6; Numbers 21:14
- 28 Numbers 21:15; Jeremiah 48:45–46; Amos 2:2; Numbers 22:41; Amos 1:14
- 29 2 Kings 23:13; Judges 11:24; Jeremiah 48:46; 1 Kings 11:7; 1 Kings 11:33
- 30 Isaiah 15:2; Jeremiah 48:18; Jeremiah 48:22; Numbers 32:34; Joshua 13:17
- 31 Deuteronomy 3:16–17; Joshua 12:1–6; Numbers 32:33–42; Joshua 13:8–12
- 32 Jeremiah 48:32; Numbers 32:1; Numbers 32:35; Numbers 32:3; Isaiah 16:8–9
- 33 Joshua 13:12; Deuteronomy 1:4; Deuteronomy 29:7; Deuteronomy 3:1–6; Numbers 32:33
- 34 Psalm 135:10–11; Numbers 21:24–25; Joshua 8:7; Deuteronomy 3:2–3; Judges 11:30
- 35 Deuteronomy 3:3–17; Joshua 12:4–6; Joshua 13:12; Psalm 135:10–12; Deuteronomy 29:7–8
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… that Moses, by the inspiration and influence of God, took brass, and made it into the figure of a cross, and set it in the holy tabernacle, and said to the people, "If ye look to this figure, and believe, ye shall be saved thereby." And when this was done, it is recorded that the serpents died, and it is …
This was done: men were bitten; they looked and were healed. What are the biting serpents?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888)
This was the figure which Moses completed by fixing the serpent to a cross, that whoso had been bitten by the living serpent, and looked to the brasen serpent, might be saved by believing.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)