Numbers 21:25

21:25 So Israel took all these cities; and Israel settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages. ¹ 

Numbers 32:37

32:37 The Reubenites rebuilt Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim,

Deuteronomy 2:24

2:24 Get up, make your way across Wadi Arnon. Look! I have already delivered over to you Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, ²  and his land. Go ahead! Take it! Engage him in war!

Joshua 13:26

13:26 Their territory ran ³  from Heshbon to Ramath Mizpah and Betonim, and from Mahanaim to the territory of Debir.

Nehemiah 9:22

9:22 “You gave them kingdoms and peoples, and you allocated them to every corner of the land. ⁴  They inherited the land of King Sihon of Heshbon ⁵  and the land of King Og of Bashan.

The Song of Songs 7:4

7:4 Your neck is like a tower made of ivory. ⁶ 

Your eyes are the pools in Heshbon

by the gate of Bath-Rabbim. ⁷ 

Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon

overlooking Damascus.

[21:25]  ¹ tn Heb “its daughters.”

[2:24]  ² sn Heshbon is the name of a prominent site (now Tell Hesba„n, about 7.5 mi [12 km] south southwest of Amman, Jordan). Sihon made it his capital after having driven Moab from the area and forced them south to the Arnon (Num 21:26-30). Heshbon is also mentioned in Deut 1:4.

[13:26]  ³ tn The words “Their territory ran” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied for clarification.

[9:22]  ⁴ tn The words “of the land” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:22]  ⁵ tc Most Hebrew MSS read “the land of Sihon and the land of the king of Heshbon.” The present translation (along with NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, CEV, NLT) follows the reading of one Hebrew MS, the LXX, and the Vulgate.

[7:4]  ⁶ tn Alternately, “the ivory tower.” The noun הַשֵּׁן (hashshen, “ivory”) is a genitive of composition, that is, a tower made out of ivory. Solomon had previously compared her neck to a tower (Song 4:4). In both cases the most obvious point of comparison has to do with size and shape, that is, her neck was long and symmetrical. Archaeology has never found a tower overlaid with ivory in the ancient Near East and it is doubtful that there ever was such a tower. The point of comparison might simply be that the shape of her neck looks like a tower, while the color and smoothness of her neck was like ivory. Solomon is mixing metaphors: her neck was long and symmetrical like a tower; but also elegant, smooth, and beautiful as ivory. The beauty, elegance, and smoothness of a woman’s neck is commonly compared to ivory in ancient love literature. For example, in a piece of Greek love literature, Anacron compared the beauty of the neck of his beloved Bathyllus to ivory (Ode xxxix 28-29).

[7:4]  ⁷ sn It is impossible at the present time to determine the exact significance of the comparison of her eyes to the “gate of Bath-Rabbim” because this site has not yet been identified by archaeologists.