5. that they complained against God and said to Moses, “Did you bring us out of Egypt, just to let us die in the desert? There's no water out here, and we can't stand this awful food!”
6. Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes that bit and killed many of them.
7. Some of the people went to Moses and admitted, “It was wrong of us to insult you and the Lord. Now please ask him to make these snakes go away.”Moses prayed,
8. and the Lord answered, “Make a snake out of bronze and place it on top of a pole. Anyone who gets bitten can look at the snake and won't die.”
9. Moses obeyed the Lord. And all of those who looked at the bronze snake lived, even though they had been bitten by the poisonous snakes.
10. As the Israelites continued their journey to Canaan, they camped at Oboth,
11. then at Iye-Abarim in the desert east of Moab,
12. and then in the Zered Gorge.
13. After that, they crossed the gorge of the River Arnon and camped in the Moabite desert bordering Amorite territory. The Arnon was the border between the Moabites and the Amorites.
14. A song in The Book of the Lord's Battles mentions the town of Waheb with its creeks in the territory of Suphah. It also mentions the River Arnon,
15. with its valleys that lie beside the Moabite border and extend to the town of Ar.
16. From the Arnon, the Israelites went to the well near the town of Beer, where the Lord had said to Moses, “Call the people together, and I will give them water to drink.”
17. That's also the same well the Israelites sang about in this song:Let's celebrate!The well has given us water.
18. With their royal sceptres,our leaders pointed outwhere to dig the well.The Israelites left the desert and camped near the town of Mattanah,
19. then at Nahaliel, and then at Bamoth.
20. Finally, they reached Moabite territory, where they camped near Mount Pisgah in a valley overlooking the desert north of the Dead Sea.
21. The Israelites sent this message to King Sihon of the Amorites:
22. Please let us pass through your territory. We promise to stay away from your fields and vineyards, and we won't drink any water from your wells. As long as we're in your land, we won't get off the main road.
23. But Sihon refused to let Israel travel through his land. Instead, he called together his entire army and marched into the desert to attack Israel near the town of Jahaz.