23. The land along the Mediterranean coast had been settled by people from the island of Crete. They had destroyed the Avvim, the original inhabitants, and had taken over all their land as far south as the city of Gaza.)
24. “After we had passed through Moab, the Lord said to us, ‘Now, start out and cross the River Arnon. I am placing in your power Sihon, the Amorite king of Heshbon, along with his land. Attack him, and begin occupying his land.
25. From today on I will make people everywhere afraid of you. Everyone will tremble with fear at the mention of your name.’
26. “Then I sent messengers from the desert of Kedemoth to King Sihon of Heshbon with the following offer of peace:
27. ‘Let us pass through your country. We will go straight through and not leave the road.
28. We will pay for the food we eat and the water we drink. All we want to do is to pass through your country,
29. until we cross the River Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is giving us. The descendants of Esau, who live in Edom, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, allowed us to pass through their territory.’
30. “But King Sihon would not let us pass through his country. The Lord your God had made him stubborn and rebellious, so that we could defeat him and take his territory, which we still occupy.
31. “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Look, I have made King Sihon and his land helpless before you; take his land and occupy it.’
32. Sihon came out with all his men to fight us near the town of Jahaz,
33. but the Lord our God put him in our power, and we killed him, his sons, and all his men.
34. At the same time we captured and destroyed every town, and put everyone to death, men, women, and children. We left no survivors.
35. We took the livestock and plundered the towns.
36. The Lord our God let us capture all the towns from Aroer, on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the city in the middle of that valley, all the way to Gilead. No town had walls too strong for us.
37. But we did not go near the territory of the Ammonites or to the banks of the River Jabbok or to the towns of the hill country or to any other place where the Lord our God had commanded us not to go.