The Death of Miriam
1 And the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of lZin in the first month, and the people stayed in mKadesh. And Miriam died there and was buried there.
The Waters of Meribah
2 nNow there was ono water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together pagainst Moses and against Aaron. 3 And the people qquarreled with Moses and said, r“Would that we had perished swhen our brothers perished before the Lord! 4 tWhy have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? 5 And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? uIt is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.” 6 Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and vfell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord wappeared to them, 7 and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and xtell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” 9 And Moses took the staff yfrom before the Lord, as he commanded him.
Moses Strikes the Rock
10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you zrebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation adrank, and their livestock. 12 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, b“Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” 13 These are the waters of cMeribah,1 where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he dshowed himself holy.
Edom Refuses Passage
14 eMoses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: “Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the hardship that we have met: 15 how our fathers fwent down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt ga long time. And the Egyptians hdealt harshly with us and our fathers. 16 And when we icried to the Lord, he jheard our voice and sent an kangel and brought us out of Egypt. And here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory. 17 Please llet us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, or 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.” 18 mBut Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through, lest I come out with the sword against you.” 19 And the people of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the highway, and if we drink of your water, I and my livestock, then I will npay for it. Let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.” 20 But he said, “You shall not pass through.” And Edom came out against them with a large army and with a strong force. 21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory, oso Israel turned away from him.
The Death of Aaron
22 pAnd they journeyed from Kadesh, and the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor. 23 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor, on the border of the land of Edom, 24 “Let Aaron be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land that I have given to the people of Israel, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. 25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and qbring them up to Mount Hor. 26 And strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron shall be gathered to his people and shall die there.” 27 Moses did as the Lord commanded. And they went up Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation.
38 And Aaron the priest went up Mount Hor at the command of the Lord and tdied there, in the fortieth year after the people of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, on the first day of the fifth month. 39 And uAaron was 123 years old when he died on Mount Hor.
28 rAnd Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And sAaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. 29 And when all the congregation saw that Aaron had perished, all the house of Israel twept for Aaron thirty days.
Arad Destroyed
1 When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb, uheard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive. 2 And Israel vvowed a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed give this people into my hand, then I will devote their cities to destruction.”1 3 And the Lord heeded the voice of Israel and gave over the Canaanites, and they devoted them and their cities to destruction. wSo the name of the place was called xHormah.2
The Bronze Serpent
4 From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, yto go around the land of Edom. zAnd the people became impatient on the way. 5 And athe people spoke against God and against Moses, b“Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and cwe loathe this worthless food.” 6 Then the Lord sent dfiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. ePray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 fAnd the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a gbronze3 serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
The Song of the Well
10 And the people of Israel set out and hcamped in Oboth. 11 iAnd they set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness that is opposite Moab, toward the sunrise. 12 From there they set out and camped in the Valley of jZered. 13 From there they set out and kcamped 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. 14 Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord,
“Waheb in Suphah, and the valleys of the Arnon,
15 and the slope of the valleys
that extends to the seat of lAr,
and leans to the border of Moab.”
16 And from there they continued to Beer;4 that is the well of which the Lord said to Moses, “Gather the people together, so that I may give them water.” 17 Then Israel sang this song:
“Spring up, O well!—Sing to it!—
18 the well that the princes made,
that the nobles of the people dug,
with the scepter and with their staffs.”
And from the wilderness they went on to Mattanah, 19 and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, 20 and from Bamoth to the valley lying in the region of Moab by the top of mPisgah that looks down on the desert.5
King Sihon Defeated
21 nThen Israel osent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, 22 p“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.” 23 But Sihon qwould not allow Israel to pass through his territory. He gathered all his people together and went out against Israel to the wilderness and came to Jahaz and fought against Israel. 24 And Israel defeated him with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, ras far as to the Ammonites, for the border of the Ammonites was strong. 25 And Israel took all these cities, and Israel settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages. 26 For 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. 27 Therefore the ballad singers say,
“Come to Heshbon, let it be built;
let the city of Sihon be established.
28 sFor fire came out from Heshbon,
flame from the city of Sihon.
It devoured Ar of Moab,
and swallowed6 the heights of the Arnon.
29 Woe to you, O Moab!
You are undone, O people of tChemosh!
He has made his sons fugitives,
and his daughters captives,
to an Amorite king, Sihon.
30 So we overthrew them;
Heshbon, as far as Dibon, perished;
and we laid waste as far as Nophah;
fire spread as far as Medeba.”7
King Og Defeated
31 Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites. 32 And Moses sent to spy out uJazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there. 33 vThen 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 Edrei. 34 But the Lord said to Moses, w“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 lived at Heshbon.” 35 So they defeated him and his sons and all his people, until he had no survivor left. And they possessed his land.
48 And they set out from the mountains of Abarim and zcamped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho; 49 they camped by the Jordan from Beth-jeshimoth as far as aAbel-shittim in the plains of Moab.
