17. Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well! Sing about it,
18. about the well that the princes dug, that the nobles of the people sank— the nobles with scepters and staffs.” Then they went from the wilderness to Mattanah,
19. from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth,
20. and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.
21. Israel sent messengers to say to Sihon king of the Amorites:
22. “Let us pass through your country. We will not turn aside into any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”
23. But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. He mustered his entire army and marched out into the wilderness against Israel. When he reached Jahaz, he fought with Israel.
24. Israel, however, put him to the sword and took over his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, but only as far as the Ammonites, because their border was fortified.
25. Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its surrounding settlements.
26. Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken from him all his land as far as the Arnon.