The Wilderness Years

ADONAI said to me,

'Today you are to cross the border of Mo'av at 'Ar.

When you approach the descendants of 'Amon, don't bother them or fight with them, for I will not give you any of the territory of the people of 'Amon to possess, since I have given it to the descendants of Lot as their territory.'"

(This too is considered a land of the Refa'im: Refa'im, whom the Emori call Zamzumim, used to live there.

They were a large, numerous people, as tall as the 'Anakim; but ADONAI destroyed them as the people of 'Amon advanced and settled in their place -

just as he destroyed the Horim as descendants of 'Esav advanced into Se'ir and settled in their place, where they live to this day.

It was the same with the 'Avim, who lived in villages as far away as 'Azah -the Kaftorim, coming from Kaftor, destroyed them and settled in their place.)

"'Get up, get moving, and cross the Arnon Valley! Here, I have put in your hands Sichon the Emori, king of Heshbon, and his land; commence the conquest, begin the battle!

Today I will start putting the fear and dread of you into all the peoples under heaven, so that the mere mention of your name will make them quake and tremble before you.'

"I sent envoys from the K'demot Desert to Sichon king of Heshbon with a peaceable message,

'Let me pass through your land. I will keep to the road, turning neither right nor left.

You will sell me food to eat for money and give me water to drink for money. I only want to pass through.

Do as the people of 'Esav living in Se'ir and the Mo'avim living in 'Ar did with me, until I cross the Yarden into the land ADONAI our God is giving us.'

"But Sichon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through his territory, because ADONAI your God had hardened his spirit and made him stubborn, so that he could hand him over to you, as is the case today.

ADONAI said to me, 'See, I have begun handing over Sichon and his territory before you; start taking possession of his land.'

Then Sichon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Yahatz;

and ADONAI our God handed him over to us, so that we defeated him, his sons and all his people.

At that time we captured all his cities and completely destroyed every city - men, women, little ones - we left none of them.

As booty for ourselves we took only the cattle, along with the spoil from the cities we had captured.

From 'Aro'er, on the edge of the Arnon Valley, and from the city in the valley, all the way to Gil'ad, there was not one city too well fortified for us to capture -ADONAI our God gave all of them to us.

The only land you didn't approach was that of the descendants of 'Amon - the region around the Yabok River, the cities in the hills and wherever else ADONAI our God forbade us to go.

"Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and 'Og the king of Bashan came out against us with all his people to fight at Edre'i.

ADONAI said to me, 'Don't be afraid of him; for I have handed him, all his people and his territory over to you; you will do to him as you did to Sichon king of the Emori, who lived at Heshbon.'

So ADONAI our God also handed over to us 'Og the king of Bashan with all his people, and we defeated him until he had no one left.

At that time we captured all his cities; there was not one city of theirs that we didn't capture. There were sixty cities, all the region of Argov, the kingdom of 'Og in Bashan;