Passage: Numbers 20, 21 (RSV)


Numbers 20


1And the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there.
2Now there was no water for the congregation; and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron.
3And the people contended with Moses, and said, "Would that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!
4Why have you brought the assembly of the LORD into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle?
5And why have you made us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; and there is no water to drink."
6Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tent of meeting, and fell on their faces. And the glory of the LORD appeared to them,
7and the LORD said to Moses,
8"Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water; so you shall bring water out of the rock for them; so you shall give drink to the congregation and their cattle."
9And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him.
10And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, "Hear now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?"
11And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his rod twice; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their cattle.
12And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them."
13These are the waters of Mer'ibah, where the people of Israel contended with the LORD, and he showed himself holy among them.
14Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, "Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the adversity that has befallen us:
15how our fathers went down to Egypt, and we dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians dealt harshly with us and our fathers;
16and when we cried to the LORD, he heard our voice, and sent an angel and brought us forth out of Egypt; and here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory.
17Now let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, neither will we drink water from a well; we will go along the King's Highway, we will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left, until we have passed through your territory."
18But Edom said to him, "You shall not pass through, lest I come out with the sword against you."
19And the people of Israel said to him, "We will go up by the highway; and if we drink of your water, I and my cattle, then I will pay for it; let me only pass through on foot, nothing more."
20But he said, "You shall not pass through." And Edom came out against them with many men, and with a strong force.
21Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory; so Israel turned away from him.
22And they journeyed from Kadesh, and the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor.
23And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor, on the border of the land of Edom,
24"Aaron shall be gathered to his people; for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the people of Israel, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Mer'ibah.
25Take Aaron and Elea'zar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor;
26and strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Elea'zar his son; and Aaron shall be gathered to his people, and shall die there."
27Moses did as the LORD commanded; and they went up Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation.
28And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Elea'zar his son; and Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Elea'zar came down from the mountain.
29And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.

Numbers 21


1When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who dwelt in the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive.
2And Israel vowed a vow to the LORD, and said, "If thou wilt indeed give this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities."
3And the LORD hearkened to the voice of Israel, and gave over the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities; so the name of the place was called Hormah.
4From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient on the way.
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 we loathe this worthless food."
6Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.
7And 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.
8And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live."
9So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
10And the people of Israel set out, and encamped in Oboth.
11And they set out from Oboth, and encamped at I'ye-ab'arim, in the wilderness which is opposite Moab, toward the sunrise.
12From there they set out, and encamped in the Valley of Zered.
13From there they set out, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness, that extends from the boundary of the Amorites; for the Arnon is the boundary of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.
14Wherefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the LORD, "Waheb in Suphah, and the valleys of the Arnon,
15and the slope of the valleys that extends to the seat of Ar, and leans to the border of Moab."
16And from there they continued to Beer; that is the well of which the LORD said to Moses, "Gather the people together, and I will give them water."
17Then Israel sang this song: "Spring up, O well! -- Sing to it! --
18the well which the princes dug, which the nobles of the people delved with the scepter and with their staves."
19and from Mat'tanah to Nahal'iel, and from Nahal'iel to Bamoth,
20and from Bamoth to the valley lying in the region of Moab by the top of Pisgah which looks down upon the desert.
21Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,
22"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."
23But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. He gathered all his men together, and went out against Israel to the wilderness, and came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel.
24And Israel slew him with the edge of the sword, and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as to the Ammonites; for Jazer was the boundary of the Ammonites.
25And Israel took all these cities, and Israel settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages.
26For 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.
27Therefore the ballad singers say, "Come to Heshbon, let it be built, let the city of Sihon be established.
28For fire went forth from Heshbon, flame from the city of Sihon. It devoured Ar of Moab, the lords of the heights of the Arnon.
29Woe to you, O Moab! You are undone, O people of Chemosh! He has made his sons fugitives, and his daughters captives, to an Amorite king, Sihon.
30So their posterity perished from Heshbon, as far as Dibon, and we laid waste until fire spread to Med'eba."
31Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites.
32And Moses sent to spy out Jazer; and they took its villages, and dispossessed the Amorites that were there.
33Then 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 at Ed're-i.
34But 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 you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon."
35So they slew him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was not one survivor left to him; and they possessed his land.



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