Numbers 20:14-21:3

New King James Version

Passage Through Edom Refused

¹⁴^(A)Now Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of ^(B)Edom. ^(C)“Thus says your brother Israel: ‘You know all the hardship that has befallen us, ¹⁵^(D)how our fathers went down to Egypt, ^(E)and we dwelt in Egypt a long time, ^(F)and the Egyptians ^[a]afflicted us and our fathers. ¹⁶^(G)When we cried out to the Lord, He heard our voice and ^(H)sent the Angel and brought us up out of Egypt; now here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your border. ¹⁷Please ^(I)let us pass through your country. We will not pass through fields or vineyards, nor will we drink water from wells; we will go along the King’s Highway; we will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.’ ”

¹⁸Then ^(J)Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through my land, lest I come out against you with the sword.”

¹⁹So the children of Israel said to him, “We will go by the Highway, and if I or my livestock drink any of your water, ^(K)then I will pay for it; let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.”

²⁰Then he said, ^(L)“You shall not pass through.” So Edom came out against them with many men and with a strong hand. ²¹Thus Edom ^(M)refused to give Israel passage through his territory; so Israel ^(N)turned away from him.

Death of Aaron

²²Now the children of Israel, the whole congregation, journeyed from ^(O)Kadesh ^(P)and came to Mount Hor. ²³And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying: ²⁴“Aaron shall ^[b]be ^(Q)gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against My word at the water of Meribah. ²⁵^(R)Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor; ²⁶and strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; for Aaron shall be gathered to his people and die there.” ²⁷So Moses did just as the Lord commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. ²⁸^(S)Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; and ^(T)Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. ²⁹Now when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, all the house of Israel mourned for Aaron ^(U)thirty days.

Canaanites Defeated at Hormah

21 The ^(V)king of Arad, the Canaanite, who dwelt in the South, heard that Israel was coming on the road to Atharim. Then he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoners. ²^(W)So Israel made a vow to the Lord, and said, “If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then ^(X)I will utterly destroy their cities.” ³And the Lord listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of that place was called ^[c]Hormah.