Numbers 21:27
in Numbers 21That is why the poets say: “Come to Heshbon, let it be rebuilt; let the city of Sihon be restored.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say, Come ye to Heshbon; Let the city of Sihon be built and established:
KJV
Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say, Come into Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and prepared:
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This verse in Numbers 21
Commentary
8 notes on this verseWherefore they that speak in proverbs say,.... The historical writers of those times, among the Amorites, who were usually poets, and wrote the history of the wars between the Moabites and Amorites in verse; as Homer among the Greeks wrote the wars of Troy; and the compositions of those ancient bards were short and compendious, and wrapped up in proverbial sayings, and enigmatical and figurative expressions, that they might be the better retained in memory, and therefore were called proverbialists.
This site's exposition
Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites
on Numbers 21:26-27
Heshbon was Moabite ground until Sihon took it from the former king of Moab, and the detail matters because Deuteronomy 2:9 had forbidden Israel to distress Moab or meddle with their land. Israel takes Heshbon from the Amorite who held it, and Judges 11:12-27 has Jephthah argue that whole case back at the king of Ammon three hundred years later. The chapter then hands the account over to the poets, they that speak in proverbs, and lets them tell it.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
), which sufficiently proves what is vouched for, namely, [1.] That such and such places that are here named, though they had been in the possession of the Moabites, had by right of war become the dominion of Sihon king of the Amorites.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
15 , &c.), and turned to them for a testimony. What their achievements were, now that they pitched on the banks of the river Arnon, we are not particularly told, but are referred to the book of the wars of the Lord, perhaps that book which was begun with the history of the war with the Amalekites, Exod. xvii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
In Proverbs - The poets or other ingenious persons, of the Amorites or Canaanites, who made this following song of triumph over the vanquished Moabites: which is here brought in, as a proof that this was now Sihon's land, and as an evidence of the just judgment of God in spoiling the spoilers, and subduing those who insulted over their conquered enemies.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
They that speak in proverbs - The original word is almost equivalent to “the poets.” The word supplies the title of the Book of Proverbs itself; and is used of the parable proper in Eze 17:2; of the prophecies of Balsam in Num 23:7-10; Num 24:3-9; etc.; and of a song of triumph over Babylon in Isa 14:4.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Wherefore they that speak in proverbs--Here is given an extract from an Amorite song exultingly anticipating an extension of their conquests to Arnon.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
They that speak in proverbs - המשלים hammoshelim, from משל mashal, to rule, to exercise authority; hence a weighty proverbial saying, because admitted as an axiom for the government of life. The moshelim of the ancient Asiatics were the same, in all probability, as the Poetae among the Greeks and Latins, the shaara among the Arabs, who were esteemed as Divine persons, and who had their name from shaara, he knew, understood; whose poems celebrated past transactions, and especially those which concerned the military history of their nation. These poets were also termed sahebi deewan, companions or lords of the council of state, because their weighty sayings and universal knowledge were held in the highest repute. Similar to these were the bards among the ancient Druids, and the Sennachies among the ancient Celtic inhabitants of these nations. The ode from the 27th to the 30th verse is composed of three parts. The first takes in Num 21:27 and Num 21:28; the second Num 21:29; and the third Num 21:30. The first records with bitter irony the late insults of Sihon and his subjects over the conquered Moabites. The second expresses the compassion of the Israelites over the desolations of Moab, with a bitter sarcasm against their god Chemosh, who had abandoned his votaries in their distress, or was not able to rescue them out of the hands of their enemies. The third sets forth the revenge taken by Israel upon the whole country of Sihon, from Heshbon to Dibon, and from Nophah even to Medeba. See Isa 15:1, Isa 15:2. The whole poem, divided into its proper hemistichs, as it stands in Kennicott’s Hebrew Bible, is as follows: - Verse 27. […]
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עַל־ | ʾal- | there- | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כֵּ֛ן | ken | -fore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| יֹאמְר֥וּ | yomeru | they say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| הַמֹּשְׁלִ֖ים | hamoshelim | those [who] speak proverbs | H4911 → | |
| בֹּ֣אוּ | bou | come | H935 → | 2568 times |
| חֶשְׁבּ֑וֹן | cheshbon | Heshbon | H2809 → | 38 times |
| תִּבָּנֶ֥ה | tibaneh | let it be rebuilt | H1129 → | 376 times |
| וְתִכּוֹנֵ֖ן | vetikonen | and it may be established | H3559 → | 217 times |
| עִ֥יר | ʾir | [the] city of | H5892 → | 1090 times |
| סִיחֽוֹן׃ | sichon | Sihon | H5511 → | 37 times |
עַל־there-
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
כֵּ֛ן-fore
kenH3651 →771 times
יֹאמְר֥וּthey say
yomeruH559 →5305 times
הַמֹּשְׁלִ֖יםthose [who] speak proverbs
hamoshelimH4911 →
בֹּ֣אוּcome
bouH935 →2568 times
חֶשְׁבּ֑וֹןHeshbon
cheshbonH2809 →38 times
תִּבָּנֶ֥הlet it be rebuilt
tibanehH1129 →376 times
וְתִכּוֹנֵ֖ןand it may be established
vetikonenH3559 →217 times
עִ֥יר[the] city of
ʾirH5892 →1090 times
סִיחֽוֹן׃Sihon
sichonH5511 →37 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Habakkuk 2:6Will not all of these take up a taunt against him, speaking with mockery and derision: ‘Woe to him who amasses what is not his and makes himself rich with many loans! How long…
it leads to
- Job 20:15–29
He swallows wealth but vomits it out; God will force it from his stomach.
- Isaiah 14:4–19
you will sing this song of contempt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has ceased, and how his fury has ended!
- Jeremiah 29:22
Because of them, all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse: ‘May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire!’
- Numbers 23:7
And Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the mountains of the east. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘put a curse on Jacob for me; come and…
- Micah 2:4
In that day they will take up a proverb against you and taunt you with this bitter lamentation: ‘We are utterly ruined! He has changed the portion of my people. How He has removed…
- Job 20:15–29
Through
Isaiah 14:4you will sing this song of contempt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has ceased, and how his fury has ended!
it leads to
- Isaiah 49:26
I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your…
- Jeremiah 27:6–7
So now I have placed all these lands under the authority of My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I have even made the beasts of the field subject to him.
- Isaiah 13:19
And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
- Isaiah 49:26
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Numbers
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.