Discovery BoxNumbers 21:29-35
Context21:29 Woe to you, Moab.
You are ruined, O people of Chemosh! 1
He has made his sons fugitives,
and his daughters the prisoners of King Sihon of the Amorites.
21:30 We have overpowered them; 2
Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon.
We have shattered them as far as Nophah,
which 3 reaches to Medeba.”
21:31 So the Israelites 4 lived in the land of the Amorites. 21:32 Moses sent spies to reconnoiter 5 Jaazer, and they captured its villages 6 and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.
21:33 Then they turned and went up by the road to Bashan. And King Og of Bashan and all his forces 7 marched out against them to do battle at Edrei. 21:34 And the Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand. You will do to him what you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. 21:35 So they defeated Og, 8 his sons, and all his people, until there were no survivors, 9 and they possessed his land.
[21:29] 1 sn The note of holy war emerges here as the victory is a victory over the local gods as well as over the people.
[21:30] 2 tc The first verb is difficult. MT has “we shot at them.” The Greek has “their posterity perished” (see GKC 218 §76.f).
[21:30] 3 tc The relative pronoun “which” (אֲשֶׁר, ’asher) posed a problem for the ancient scribes here, as indicated by the so-called extraordinary point (punta extraordinaria) over the letter ר (resh) of אֲשֶׁר. Smr and the LXX have “fire” (אֵשׁ, ’esh) here (cf. NAB, NJB, RSV, NRSV). Some modern scholars emend the word to שֹׁאָה (sho’ah, “devastation”).
[21:32] 5 tn Heb “Moses sent to spy out.”
[21:35] 8 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Og) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
