21. They were strong people, and there were many of them. They were very tall, like the Anakites. The Lord went before the Ammonites and destroyed the Zamzummites. The Ammonites forced them out of the land and took their place.
22. The Lord did the same thing for the descendants of Esau. They lived in Edom. He destroyed the Horites. The Edomites forced them out of the land and took their place. And they live there to this day.
23. The Caphtorite people came from Crete. They destroyed the Avvites. The Avvites lived in towns all the way to Gaza. But the Caphtorites destroyed them and took their place.)
24. The Lord said, “Get up. Cross the Arnon Ravine. See, I am giving you the power to defeat Sihon the Amorite. He is king of Heshbon. I am giving you his land. So fight against him and begin taking his land.
25. Today I will begin to make all the people in the world afraid of you. They will hear reports about you. And they will shake with fear. They will be terrified of you.”
26. I sent messengers from the desert of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon. They offered him peace. They said,
27. “Let us pass through your country. We will stay on the road. We will not turn right or left.
28. We will pay you in silver for any food we eat or water we drink. We only want to walk through your country.
29. The descendants of Esau in Edom let us go through their land. So did the Moabites in Ar. We want to cross the Jordan River into the land the Lord our God has given us.”
30. But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass. The Lord your God had made him stubborn. The Lord wanted you to defeat Sihon. And now this has happened.
31. The Lord said to me, “See, I have begun to give Sihon and his country to you. Begin taking the land as your own.”
32. Then Sihon and all his army came out. And they fought us at Jahaz.
33. But the Lord our God gave Sihon to us. We defeated him, his sons and all his army.
34. We captured all his cities. We completely destroyed them, the men, women and children. We left no one alive.