Arnon

² Like fluttering birds pushed out of the nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon:

³ “Give us counsel; render a decision. Shelter us at noonday with shade as dark as night. Hide the refugees; do not betray the one who flees.

The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came up out of Egypt, they seized my land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and all the way to the Jordan. Now, therefore, restore it peaceably.”

Then Israel traveled through the wilderness and bypassed the lands of Edom and Moab. They came to the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, since the Arnon was its border.

²¹ Then the LORD, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, who defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites who inhabited that country,

²² seizing all the land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.

For three hundred years Israel has lived in Heshbon, Aroer, and their villages, as well as all the cities along the banks of the Arnon. Why did you not take them back during that time?

Moab is put to shame, for it has been shattered. Wail and cry out! Declare by the Arnon that Moab is destroyed.

¹³ From there they moved on and camped on the other side of the Arnon, in the wilderness that extends into the Amorite territory. Now the Arnon is the border between the Moabites and the Amorites.

¹⁴ Therefore it is stated in the Book of the Wars of the LORD: “Waheb in Suphah and the wadis of the Arnon,

¹⁵ even the slopes of the wadis that extend to the site of Ar and lie along the border of Moab.”

²⁴ And Israel put him to the sword and took possession of his land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok—but only up to the border of the Ammonites, because it was fortified.

²⁵ Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its villages.

²⁶ Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land as far as the Arnon.

²⁷ That is why the poets say: “Come to Heshbon, let it be rebuilt; let the city of Sihon be restored.

²⁸ For a fire went out from Heshbon, a blaze from the city of Sihon. It consumed Ar of Moab, the rulers of Arnon’s heights.

When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the Moabite city on the Arnon border, at the edge of his territory.