Bible Strands
Numbers 21:28
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The text records a concluding image of judgment following Israel’s campaign against Sihon, positioned between a cited poet’s refrain and a subsequent oracle against Moab. It functions as a declarative statement of territorial destruction.
The words — The Hebrew אֵשׁ ('esh) and יָצְאָה (ya.tze.'Ah) literally render "fire" and "it went out," while אָכְלָה ('a.khe.Lah) translates "it consumed." These verbs describe a destructive blaze originating from Heshbon and reaching the rulers of Arnon’s heights.
The thread — The motif of fire departing from Heshbon reappears in Jeremiah 48:45 to describe Moab’s ruin. The site of Ar is also referenced in Numbers 21:15 as part of the border geography extending along Moab’s edge.
Why it lands — The passage demands acknowledgment that Sihon’s city and its leadership are subject to complete consumption. It requires the reader to face the stated outcome of judgment without softening the described destruction.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For there is a fire gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon: it hath consumed Ar of Moab, and the lords of the high places of Arnon.
Cross-references
- Numbers 21:15 even the slopes of the wadis that extend to the site of Ar and lie along the border of Moab.”
- Jeremiah 48:45 “Those who flee will stand helpless in Heshbon’s shadow, because fire has gone forth from Heshbon and a flame from within Sihon. It devours the foreheads of Moab and the skulls of the sons of tumult.
- Numbers 22:41 The next morning, Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-baal. From there he could see the outskirts of the camp of the people.
- Deuteronomy 2:9 Then the LORD said to me, “Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as their possession.”
- Deuteronomy 2:18 “Today you are going to cross the border of Moab at Ar.
- Judges 9:20 But if not, may fire come from Abimelech and consume the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo, and may fire come from the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo and consume Abimelech.”
- Isaiah 10:16 Therefore the Lord GOD of Hosts will send a wasting disease among Assyria’s stout warriors, and under his pomp will be kindled a fire like a burning flame.
- Isaiah 15:1 This is the burden against Moab: Ar in Moab is ruined, destroyed in a night! Kir in Moab is devastated, destroyed in a night!
- Amos 1:4 So I will send fire upon the house of Hazael to consume the citadels of Ben-hadad.
- Amos 1:7 So I will send fire upon the walls of Gaza, to consume its citadels.