16. The Israelites left that place and traveled to Beer. There is a well in Beer, where the Lord said to Moses, “Bring the people together here, and I will give them water.”
17. Then the Israelites sang this song: “Well, flow with water! Sing about it!
18. Great men dug this well. Important leaders dug this well. They dug this well with their staffs and walking sticks. It is a gift in the desert.”
19. The people traveled from Mattanah to Nahaliel. Then they traveled from Nahaliel to Bamoth.
20. They traveled from Bamoth to the Valley of Moab. In this place the top of the Pisgah Mountain looks over the desert.
21. The Israelites sent some men to King Sihon of the Amorites. The men said to the king,
22. “Allow us to travel through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard. We will not drink water from any of your wells. We will travel only along King’s Road. We will stay on that road until we have traveled through your country.”
23. But King Sihon would not allow the Israelites to travel through his country. He gathered together his army and marched out to the desert to fight against the Israelites. The king’s army fought against the Israelites at Jahaz.
24. But the Israelites defeated the king and took his land from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River. The Israelites took the land as far as the Ammonite border. They stopped at that border because it was strongly defended by the Ammonites.
25. Israel took all the Amorite cities and began living in them. They even defeated the city of Heshbon and all the small towns around it.
26. Heshbon was the city where Sihon, the Amorite king, lived. In the past Sihon had fought with the king of Moab. Sihon had taken the land as far as the Arnon River.
27. That is why the singers sing this song: “Go in and rebuild Heshbon! Make Sihon’s city strong.
28. A fire began in Heshbon. That fire began in Sihon’s city. The fire destroyed Ar in Moab. It burned the hills above Arnon River.