20 Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the Desert of Zin in the first month; and the people abode in Kadesh. And Miriam died there, and was buried there.

² And there was no water for the congregation, and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron.

³ And the people chided Moses and spoke, saying, “Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord!

⁴ And why have ye brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there?

⁵ And why have ye made us to come up out of Egypt to bring us in unto this evil place? It is no place of seed or of figs or of vines or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.”

⁶ And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces; and the glory of the Lord appeared unto them.

⁷ And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,

⁸ “Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.”

⁹ And Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as He commanded him.

¹⁰ And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them: “Hear now, ye rebels! Must we fetch you water out of this rock?”

¹¹ And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice; and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.

¹² And the Lord spoke unto Moses and Aaron: “Because ye believed Me not, to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.”

¹³ This is the water of Meribah [that is, Strife], because the children of Israel strove with the Lord, and He was sanctified in them.

¹⁴ And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom: “Thus saith thy brother Israel: ‘Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us,

¹⁵ how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians vexed us and our fathers.

¹⁶ And when we cried unto the Lord, He heard our voice and sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt. And behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border.

¹⁷ Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country. We will not pass through the fields or through the vineyards, neither will we drink of the water of the wells. We will go by the king’s highway; we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left until we have passed thy borders.’”

¹⁸ And Edom said unto him: “Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword.”

¹⁹ And the children of Israel said unto him, “We will go by the highway; and if I and my cattle drink of thy water, then I will pay for it. I will only, without doing any thing else, go through on my feet.”

²⁰ And he said, “Thou shalt not go through.” And Edom came out against him with many people and with a strong hand.

²¹ Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border. Therefore Israel turned away from him.

²² And the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, journeyed from Kadesh and came unto Mount Hor.

²³ And the Lord spoke unto Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom, saying,

²⁴ “Aaron shall be gathered unto his people; for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against My word at the water of Meribah.

²⁵ Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up unto Mount Hor.

²⁶ And strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people and shall die there.”

²⁷ And Moses did as the Lord commanded, and they went up into Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation.

²⁸ And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there on the top of the mount. And Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount;

²⁹ and when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.

21 And when King Arad the Canaanite, who dwelt in the South, heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies, then he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoners.

² And Israel vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, “If Thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.”

³ And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. And he called the name of the place Hormah [that is, Utter Destruction].

⁴ And they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to compass the land of Edom, and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.

⁵ And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.”

⁶ And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many people of Israel died.

⁷ Therefore the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against thee. Pray unto the Lord, that He take away the serpents from us.” And Moses prayed for the people.

⁸ And the Lord said unto Moses, “Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole. And it shall come to pass that every one who is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.”

⁹ And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole; and it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass he lived.

¹⁰ And the children of Israel went forward, and pitched camp in Oboth.

¹¹ And they journeyed from Oboth, and pitched at Ijeabarim, in the wilderness which is before Moab toward the sunrising.

¹² From thence they removed, and pitched camp in the Valley of Zered.

¹³ From thence they removed, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that cometh out of the border of the Amorites; for 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 what He did in the Red Sea, and in the brooks of Arnon,

¹⁵ and at the stream of the brooks that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar and lieth upon the border of Moab.

¹⁶ And from thence they went to Beer. That is the well whereof the Lord spoke unto Moses: “Gather the people together, and I will give them water.”

¹⁷ Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well! Sing ye unto it!

¹⁸ The princes dug the well; the nobles of the people dug it by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves.” And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah,

¹⁹ and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,

²⁰ and from Bamoth in the valley that is in the country of Moab to the top of Pisgah, which looketh toward Jeshimon.

²¹ And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,

²² “Let me pass through thy land. We will not turn into the fields or into the vineyards; we will not drink of the waters of the well, but we will go along by the king’s highway until we be past thy borders.”

²³ And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border. But Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness; and he came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel.

²⁴ And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon; for the border of the children of Ammon was strong.

²⁵ And Israel took all these cities; and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the villages thereof.

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, even unto Arnon.

²⁷ Therefore those who speak in proverbs say: “Come into Heshbon; let the city of Sihon be built and prepared.

²⁸ For there is a fire gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon. It hath consumed Ar of Moab, and the lords of the high places of Arnon.

²⁹ Woe to thee, Moab! Thou art undone, O people of Chemosh! He hath given his sons that escaped and his daughters into captivity, unto Sihon king of the Amorites.

³⁰ We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon. And we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba.”

³¹ Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites.

³² And Moses sent to spy out Jazer; and they took the villages thereof, and drove out the Amorites who were there.

³³ And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan; and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to the battle at Edrei.

³⁴ And the Lord said unto Moses, “Fear him not, for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people and his land. And thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.”

³⁵ So they smote him, and his sons and all his people, until there was none left him alive; and they possessed his land.

22 And the children of Israel went forward, and pitched camp in the plains of Moab on this side of the Jordan by Jericho.

² And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

³ And Moab was sore afraid of the people because they were many, and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel.

⁴ And Moab said unto the elders of Midian, “Now shall this company lick up all that are round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field.” And Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time.

⁵ He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, “Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt. Behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me.

⁶ Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse for me this people;for they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land; for I know that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed.”

⁷ And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand, and they came unto Balaam and spoke unto him the words of Balak.

⁸ And he said unto them, “Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word back, as the Lord shall speak unto me.” And the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.

⁹ And God came unto Balaam and said, “What men are these with thee?”

¹⁰ And Balaam said unto God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, hath sent unto me, saying,

¹¹ ‘Behold, there is a people come out of Egypt, who covereth the face of the earth. Come now, curse them for me. Perhaps I shall be able to overcome them and drive them out.’”

¹² And God said unto Balaam, “Thou shalt not go with them. Thou shalt not curse the people, for they are blessed.”

¹³ And Balaam rose up in the morning and said unto the princes of Balak, “Get you into your land, for the Lord refuseth to give me leave to go with you.”

¹⁴ And the princes of Moab rose up, and they went unto Balak and said, “Balaam refuseth to come with us.”

¹⁵ And Balak sent yet again princes, more, and more honorable than they.

¹⁶ And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus saith Balak the son of Zippor: ‘Let nothing, I pray thee, hinder thee from coming unto me;

¹⁷ for I will promote thee unto very great honor, and I will do whatsoever thou sayest unto me. Come therefore, I pray thee, curse for me this people.’”

¹⁸ And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, “If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God to do less or more.

¹⁹ Now therefore, I pray you, tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what more the Lord will say unto me.”

²⁰ And God came unto Balaam at night and said unto him, “If the men come to call thee, rise up and go with them; but yet the word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do.”

²¹ And Balaam rose up in the morning and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab.

²² And God’s anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the way as an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him.

²³ And the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way and his sword drawn in his hand. And the ass turned aside out of the way and went into the field, and Balaam smote the ass to turn her into the way.

²⁴ But the angel of the Lord stood in a path of the vineyards, a wall being on this side and a wall on that side.

²⁵ And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she thrust herself unto the wall and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall; and he smote her again.

²⁶ And the angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left.

²⁷ And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell down under Balaam; and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff.

²⁸ And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, “What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?”

²⁹ And Balaam said unto the ass, “Because thou hast mocked me. I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee.”

³⁰ And the ass said unto Balaam, “Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? Was I ever wont to do so unto thee?” And he said, “Nay.”

³¹ Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way and his sword drawn in his hand; and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face.

³² And the angel of the Lord said unto him, “Why hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? Behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me.

³³ And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times. Unless she had turned from me, surely now also I would have slain thee and saved her alive.”

³⁴ And Balaam said unto the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displease thee, I will get me back again.”

³⁵ And the angel of the Lord said unto Balaam, “Go with the men; but only the word that I shall speak unto thee, that shalt thou speak.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.

³⁶ And when Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him unto a city of Moab, which is in the border of Arnon, which is in the utmost border.

³⁷ And Balak said unto Balaam, “Did I not earnestly send unto thee to call thee? Why camest thou not unto me? Am I not able indeed to promote thee to honor?”

³⁸ And Balaam said unto Balak, “Lo, I have come unto thee. Have I now any power at all to say anything? The word that God putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak.”

³⁹ And Balaam went with Balak, and they came unto Kirjathhuzoth.

⁴⁰ And Balak offered oxen and sheep, and sent some to Balaam and to the princes who were with him.

⁴¹ And it came to pass on the morrow that Balak took Balaam and brought him up into the high places of Baal, that thence he might see the utmost part of the people.