¹ And when king Arad the Chanaanite, who dwelt towards the south, had heard this, to wit, that Israel was come by the way of the spies, he fought against them, and overcoming them carried off their spoils.

² But Israel binding himself by vow to the Lord, said: It thou wilt deliver this people into my hand, I will utterly destroy their cities.

³ And the Lord heard the prayers of Israel, and delivered up the Chanaanite, and they cut them off and destroyed their cities: and they called the name of that place Horma, that is to say, Anathema.

⁴ And they marched from mount Hor, by the way that leadeth to the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom. And the people began to be weary of their journey and labour:

⁵ And speaking against God end Moses, they said: Why didst thou bring us out of Egypt, to die in the wilderness? There is no bread, nor have we any waters: our soul now loatheth this very light food.

⁶ Wherefore the Lord sent among the people fiery serpents, which bit them and killed many of them.

⁷ Upon which they came to Moses, and said: We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and thee: pray that he may take away these serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.

⁸ And the Lord said to him: Make brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: whosoever being struck shall look on it, shall live.

⁹ Moses therefore made a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: which when they that were bitten looked upon, they were healed.

¹⁰ And the children of Israel setting forwards camped in Oboth.

¹¹ And departing thence they pitched their tents in Jeabarim, in the wilderness, that faceth Moab toward the east.

¹² And removing from thence, they came to the torrent Zared:

¹³ Which they left and encamped over against Arnon, which is in the desert and standeth out on the borders of the Amorrhite. For Arnon is the border of Moab, dividing the Moabites and the Amorrhites.

¹⁴ Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord: As he did in the Red Sea, so will he do in the streams of Amen.

¹⁵ The rocks of the torrents were bowed down that they might rest in Ar, and lie down in the borders of the Moabites.

¹⁶ When they went from that place, the well appeared whereof the Lord said to Moses: Gather the people together, and I will give them water.

¹⁷ Then Israel sung this song: Let the well spring up. They sung thereto:

¹⁸ The well, which the princes dug, and the chiefs of the people prepared by the direction of the lawgiver, and with their staves. And they marched from the wilderness to Mathana.

¹⁹ From Mathana unto Nahaliel: from Nahaliel unto Bamoth.

²⁰ From Bamoth, is a valley in the country of Moab, to the top of Phasga, which looked towards the desert.

²¹ And Israel sent messengers to Sehon king of the Amorrhites, saying:

²² I beseech thee that I may have leave to pass through thy land: we will not go aside into the fields or the vineyards, we will not drink waters of the wells, we will go the king's highway, till we be past thy borders.

²³ And he would not grant that Israel should pass by his borders: but rather gathering an army, went forth to meet them in the desert, and came to Jasa, and fought against them.

²⁴ And he was slain by them with the edge of the sword, and they possessed his land from the Arnon unto the Jeboc, and to the confines of the children of Ammon: for the borders of the Ammonites, were kept with a strong garrison.

²⁵ So Israel took all his cities, and dwelt in the cities of the Amorrhite, to wit, in Hesebon, and in the villages thereof.

²⁶ Hesebon was the city of Sehon the king of the Amorrhites, who fought against the king of Moab: and took all the land, that had been of his dominions, as far as the Arnon.

²⁷ Therefore it is said in the proverb: Come into Hesebon, let the city of Sehon be built and set up:

²⁸ A fire is gone out of Hesebon, a flame from the city of Sehon, and hath consumed Ar of the Moabites, and the inhabitants of the high places of the Arnon.

²⁹ Woe to thee Moab: thou art undone, O people of Chamos. He hath given his sons to flight, and his daughters into captivity to Sehon the king of the Amorrhites.

³⁰ Their yoke is perished from Hesebon unto Dibon, they came weary to Nophe, and unto Medaba.

³¹ So Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorrhite.

³² And Moses sent some to take a view of Jazer: and they took the villages of it, and conquered the inhabitants.

³³ And they turned themselves, and went up by the way of Basan, and Og the king of Basan came against them with all his people, to fight in Edrai.

³⁴ And the Lord said to Moses: Fear him not, for I have delivered him and all his people, and his country into thy hand: and thou shalt do to him as thou didst to Sehon the king of the Amorrhites, the inhabitant of Hesebon.

³⁵ So they slew him also with his sons, and all his people, not letting any one escape, and they possessed his land.

¹ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

² Revenge first the children of Israel on the Madianites, and so thou shalt be gathered to thy people.

³ And Moses forthwith said: Arm of you men to fight, who may take the revenge of the Lord on the Madianites.

⁴ Let a thousand men be chosen out of every tribe of Israel to be sent to the war.

⁵ And they gave a thousand of every tribe, that is to say, twelve thousand men well appointed for battle.

⁶ And Moses sent them with Phinees the son of Eleazar the priest, and he delivered to him the holy vessels, and the trumpets to sound.

⁷ And when they had fought against the Madianites and had overcome them, they slew all the men.

⁸ And their kings Evi, and Recem, and Sur, and Hur, and Rebe, five princes of the nation: Balaam also the son of Beer they killed with the sword.

⁹ And they took their women, and their children captives, and all their cattle, and all their goods: and all their possessions they plundered:

¹⁰ And all their cities, and their villages, and castles, they burned.

¹¹ And they carried away the booty, and all that they had taken both of men and of beasts.

¹² And they brought them to Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and to all the multitude of the children of Israel. But the rest of the things for use they carried to the camp on the plains of Moab, beside the Jordan over against Jericho.

¹³ And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the princes of the synagogue went forth to meet them without the camp.

¹⁴ And Moses being angry with the chief officers of the army, the tribunes, and the centurions that were come from the battle,

¹⁵ Said: Why have you saved the women?

¹⁶ Are not these they, that deceived the children of Israel by the counsel of Balaam, and made you transgress against the Lord by the sin of Phogor, for which also the people was punished?

¹⁷ Therefore kill all that are of the male sex, even of the children: and put to death the women, that have carnally known men.

¹⁸ But the girls, and all the women that are virgins save for yourselves:

¹⁹ And stay without the camp seven days. He that hath killed a man, or touched one that is killed, shall be purified the third day and the seventh day.

²⁰ And of all the spoil, every garment, or vessel, or any thing made for use, of the skins, or hair of goats, or of wood, shall be purified.

²¹ Eleazar also the priest spoke to the men of the army, that had fought, in this manner: This is the ordinance of the law, which the Lord hath commanded Moses:

²² Gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, and lend, and tin,

²³ And all that may pass through the fire, shall be purified by fire, but whatsoever cannot abide the fire, shall be sanctified with the water of expiation:

²⁴ And you shall wash your garments the seventh day, and being purified, you shall afterwards enter into the camp.

²⁵ And the Lord said to Moses:

²⁶ Take the sum of the things that were taken both of man and beast, thou and Eleazar the priest and the princes of the multitude:

²⁷ And thou shalt divide the spoil equally, between them that fought and went out to the war, and between the rest of the multitude.

²⁸ And thou shalt separate a portion to the Lord from them that fought and were in the battle, one soul of five hundred as well of persons as of oxen and asses and sheep.

²⁹ And thou shalt give it to Eleazar the priest, because they are the firstfruits of the Lord.

³⁰ Out of the moiety also of the children of Israel thou shalt take the fiftieth head of persons, and of oxen, and asses, and sheep, and of all beasts, and thou shalt give them to the Levites that watch in the charge of the tabernacle of the Lord.

³¹ And Moses and Eleazar did as the Lord had commanded.

³² And the spoil which the army had taken, was six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep,

³³ Seventy-two thousand oxen,

³⁴ Sixty-one thousand asses:

³⁵ And thirty-two thousand persons of the female sex, that had not known men.

³⁶ And one half was given to them that had been in the battle, to wit, three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep:

³⁷ Out of which, for the portion of the Lord, were reckoned six hundred seventy-five sheep.

³⁸ And out of the thirty-six thousand oxen, seventy-two oxen:

³⁹ Out of the thirty thousand five hundred asses, sixty-one asses:

⁴⁰ Out of the sixteen thousand persons, there fell to the portion of the Lord, thirty-two souls.

⁴¹ And Moses delivered the number of the firstfruits of the Lord to Eleazar the priest, as had been commanded him,

⁴² Out of the half of the children of Israel, which he had separated for them that had been in the battle.

⁴³ But out of the half that fell to the rest of the multitude, that is to say, out of the three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,

⁴⁴ And out of the thirty-six thousand oxen,

⁴⁵ And out of the thirty thousand five hundred asses,

⁴⁶ And out of the sixteen thousand persons,

⁴⁷ Moses took the fiftieth head, and gave it to the Levites that watched in the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord had commanded.

⁴⁸ And when the commanders of the army, and the tribunes and centurions were come to Moses, they said:

⁴⁹ We thy servants have reckoned up the number of the fighting men, whom we had under our hand, and not so much as one was wanting.

⁵⁰ Therefore we offer as gifts to the Lord what gold every one of us could find in the booty, in garters and tablets, rings and bracelets, and chains, that thou mayst pray to the Lord for us.

⁵¹ And Moses and Eleazar the priest received all the gold in divers kinds,

⁵² In weight sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty sicles, from the tribunes and from the centurions.

⁵³ For that which every one had taken in the booty was his own.

⁵⁴ And that which was received they brought into the tabernacle of the testimony, for a memorial of the children of Israel before the Lord.