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.
Parallel translations
- WEB for a fire has gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon. It has devoured Ar of Moab, The lords of the high places of the Arnon.
- BSB 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.
- NKJV “For fire went out from Heshbon, A flame from the city of Sihon; It consumed Ar of Moab, The lords of the heights of the Arnon.
- NASB “For a fire spread from Heshbon, A flame from the town of Sihon; It devoured Ar of Moab, The dominant heights of the Arnon.
- NLT A fire flamed forth from Heshbon, a blaze from the city of Sihon. It burned the city of Ar in Moab; it destroyed the rulers of the Arnon heights.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The proverb says fire went out from Heshbon and devoured Ar of Moab and the heights of the Arnon. It celebrates Sihon's conquest of Moabite territory.
Overview
The poetic 'fire' depicts the devastating force of Sihon's earlier campaign against Moab. The song memorializes how Sihon stripped Moab of land up to the Arnon. Now that very kingdom has fallen to Israel, showing how the Lord overturns the boasts of the proud.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Num 21:15And at the stream of the brooks that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar, and lieth upon the border of Moab.
- Jer 48:45–46They that fled stood under the shadow of Heshbon because of the force: but a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and shall devour the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.
- Deut 2:9And the LORD said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession.
- Deut 2:18Thou art to pass over through Ar, the coast of Moab, this day:
- Isa 10:16Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.
- Isa 15:1–2The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence;
- Amos 1:14But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind:
- Amos 1:7But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof:
- Amos 2:5But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.
- Amos 1:10But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus, which shall devour the palaces thereof.
- Amos 1:12But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.
- Amos 1:4But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad.
- Num 22:41And it came to pass on the morrow, that Balak took Balaam, and brought him up into the high places of Baal, that thence he might see the utmost part of the people.
- Amos 2:2But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kirioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet:
- Judg 9:20But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech.
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 21:28 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.