Victory over the Canaanites

¹When the Canaanite king of Arad in the southern part of Canaan heard that the Israelites were coming by way of Atharim, he attacked them and captured some of them.

²Then the Israelites made a vow to the Lord: “If you will let us conquer these people, we will unconditionally dedicate them and their cities to you and will destroy them.”

³The Lord heard them and helped them conquer the Canaanites. So the Israelites completely destroyed them and their cities, and named the place Hormah.

The Snake Made of Bronze

⁴The Israelites left Mount Hor by the road that leads to the Gulf of Aqaba, in order to go around the territory of Edom. But on the way the people lost their patience

⁵and spoke against God and Moses. They complained, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We can't stand any more of this miserable food!”

⁶Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many Israelites were bitten and died.

⁷The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Now pray to the Lord to take these snakes away.” So Moses prayed for the people.

⁸Then the Lord told Moses to make a metal snake and put it on a pole, so that anyone who was bitten could look at it and be healed.

⁹So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole. Anyone who had been bitten would look at the bronze snake and be healed.

From Mount Hor to the Valley of the Moabites

¹⁰The Israelites moved on and camped at Oboth.

¹¹After leaving that place, they camped at the ruins of Abarim in the wilderness east of Moabite territory.

¹²Then they camped in Zered Valley.

¹³From there they moved again and camped on the north side of the Arnon River, in the wilderness which extends into Amorite territory. (The Arnon was the border between the Moabites and the Amorites.)

¹⁴That is why The Book of the Lord's Battles speaks of “… the town of Waheb in the area of Suphah, and the valleys; the Arnon River,

¹⁵and the slope of the valleys that extend to the town of Ar and toward the border of Moab.”

¹⁶From there they went on to a place called Wells, where the Lord said to Moses, “Bring the people together, and I will give them water.”

¹⁷At that time the people of Israel sang this song: “Wells, produce your water; And we will greet it with a song—

¹⁸The well dug by princes And by leaders of the people, Dug with a royal scepter And with their walking sticks.” They moved from the wilderness to Mattanah,

¹⁹and from there they went on to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,

²⁰and from Bamoth to the valley in the territory of the Moabites, below the top of Mount Pisgah, looking out over the desert.

Victory over King Sihon and King Og

²¹Then the people of Israel sent messengers to the Amorite king Sihon to say:

²²“Let us pass through your land. We and our cattle will not leave the road and go into your fields or vineyards, and we will not drink water from your wells; we will stay on the main road until we are out of your territory.”

²³But Sihon would not permit the people of Israel to pass through his territory. He gathered his army and went out to Jahaz in the wilderness and attacked the Israelites.

²⁴But the Israelites killed many of the enemy in battle and occupied their land from the Arnon River north to the Jabbok, that is, to the Ammonites, because the Ammonite border was strongly defended.

²⁵So the people of Israel captured all the Amorite cities, including Heshbon and all the surrounding towns, and settled in them.

²⁶Heshbon was the capital city of the Amorite king Sihon, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had captured all his land as far as the Arnon River.

²⁷That is why the poets sing, “Come to Heshbon, to King Sihon's city! We want to see it rebuilt and restored.

²⁸Once from this city of Heshbon Sihon's army went forth like a fire; It destroyed the city of Ar in Moab And devoured the hills of the upper Arnon.

²⁹How terrible for you, people of Moab! You worshipers of Chemosh are brought to ruin! Your god let the men become refugees, And the women became captives of the Amorite king.

³⁰But now their descendants are destroyed, All the way from Heshbon to Dibon, From Nashim to Nophah, near Medeba.”

³¹So the people of Israel settled in the territory of the Amorites,

³²and Moses sent men to find the best way to attack the city of Jazer. The Israelites captured it and its surrounding towns and drove out the Amorites living there.

³³Then the Israelites turned and took the road to Bashan, and King Og of Bashan marched out with his army to attack them at Edrei.

³⁴The Lord said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him. I will give you victory over him, all his people, and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon, the Amorite king who ruled at Heshbon.”

³⁵So the Israelites killed Og, his sons, and all his people, leaving no survivors, and then they occupied his land.

¹“If you see an Israelite's cow or sheep running loose, do not ignore it; take it back.

²But if its owner lives a long way off or if you don't know who owns it, then take it home with you. When its owner comes looking for it, give it to him.

³Do the same thing if you find a donkey, a piece of clothing, or anything else that an Israelite may have lost.

⁴“If an Israelite's donkey or cow has fallen down, don't ignore it; help him get the animal to its feet again.

⁵“Women are not to wear men's clothing, and men are not to wear women's clothing; the Lord your God hates people who do such things.

⁶“If you happen to find a bird's nest in a tree or on the ground with the mother bird sitting either on the eggs or with her young, you are not to take the mother bird.

⁷You may take the young birds, but you must let the mother bird go, so that you will live a long and prosperous life.

⁸“When you build a new house, be sure to put a railing around the edge of the roof. Then you will not be responsible if someone falls off and is killed.

⁹“Do not plant any crop in the same field with your grapevines; if you do, you are forbidden to use either the grapes or the produce of the other crop.

¹⁰“Do not hitch an ox and a donkey together for plowing.

¹¹“Do not wear cloth made by weaving wool and linen together.

¹²“Sew tassels on the four corners of your clothes.

Laws concerning Sexual Purity

¹³“Suppose a man marries a young woman and later he decides he doesn't want her.

¹⁴So he makes up false charges against her, accusing her of not being a virgin when they got married.

¹⁵“If this happens, the young woman's parents are to take the blood-stained wedding sheet that proves she was a virgin, and they are to show it in court to the town leaders.

¹⁶Her father will say to them, ‘I gave my daughter to this man in marriage, and now he doesn't want her.

¹⁷He has made false charges against her, saying that she was not a virgin when he married her. But here is the proof that my daughter was a virgin; look at the bloodstains on the wedding sheet!’

¹⁸Then the town leaders are to take the husband and beat him.

¹⁹They are also to fine him a hundred pieces of silver and give the money to the young woman's father, because the man has brought disgrace on an Israelite woman. Moreover, she will continue to be his wife, and he can never divorce her as long as he lives.

²⁰“But if the charge is true and there is no proof that she was a virgin,

²¹then they are to take her out to the entrance of her father's house, where the men of her city are to stone her to death. She has done a shameful thing among our people by having intercourse before she was married, while she was still living in her father's house. In this way you will get rid of this evil.

²²“If a man is caught having intercourse with another man's wife, both of them are to be put to death. In this way you will get rid of this evil.

²³“Suppose a man is caught in a town having intercourse with a young woman who is engaged to someone else.

²⁴You are to take them outside the town and stone them to death. She is to die because she did not cry out for help, although she was in a town, where she could have been heard. And the man is to die because he had intercourse with someone who was engaged. In this way you will get rid of this evil.

²⁵“Suppose a man out in the countryside rapes a young woman who is engaged to someone else. Then only the man is to be put to death;

²⁶nothing is to be done to the woman, because she has not committed a sin worthy of death. This case is the same as when one man attacks another man and murders him.

²⁷The man raped the engaged woman in the countryside, and although she cried for help, there was no one to help her.

²⁸“Suppose a man is caught raping a young woman who is not engaged.

²⁹He is to pay her father the bride price of fifty pieces of silver, and she is to become his wife, because he forced her to have intercourse with him. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.

³⁰“No man is to disgrace his father by having intercourse with any of his father's wives.

The Prayer of a Troubled Youth

¹Listen to my prayer, O Lord, and hear my cry for help!

²When I am in trouble, don't turn away from me! Listen to me, and answer me quickly when I call!

³My life is disappearing like smoke; my body is burning like fire.

⁴I am beaten down like dry grass; I have lost my desire for food.

⁵I groan aloud; I am nothing but skin and bones.

⁶I am like a wild bird in the desert, like an owl in abandoned ruins.

⁷I lie awake; I am like a lonely bird on a housetop.

⁸All day long my enemies insult me; those who mock me use my name in cursing.

^9-10Because of your anger and fury, ashes are my food, and my tears are mixed with my drink. You picked me up and threw me away.

¹¹My life is like the evening shadows; I am like dry grass.

¹²But you, O Lord, are king forever; all generations will remember you.

¹³You will rise and take pity on Zion; the time has come to have mercy on her; this is the right time.

¹⁴Your servants love her, even though she is destroyed; they have pity on her, even though she is in ruins.

¹⁵The nations will fear the Lord; all the kings of the earth will fear his power.

¹⁶When the Lord rebuilds Zion, he will reveal his greatness.

¹⁷He will hear his forsaken people and listen to their prayer.

¹⁸Write down for the coming generation what the Lord has done, so that people not yet born will praise him.

¹⁹The Lord looked down from his holy place on high, he looked down from heaven to earth.

²⁰He heard the groans of prisoners and set free those who were condemned to die.

²¹And so his name will be proclaimed in Zion, and he will be praised in Jerusalem

²²when nations and kingdoms come together and worship the Lord.

²³The Lord has made me weak while I am still young; he has shortened my life.

²⁴O God, do not take me away now before I grow old. O Lord, you live forever;

²⁵long ago you created the earth, and with your own hands you made the heavens.

²⁶They will disappear, but you will remain; they will all wear out like clothes. You will discard them like clothes, and they will vanish.

²⁷But you are always the same, and your life never ends.

²⁸Our children will live in safety, and under your protection their descendants will be secure.