Numbers 21:2

Then the Israelis solemnly vowed: “Yahweh, if you will help us to defeat these people, we will completely destroy all their towns.”

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

And Israel vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.

In Context

1The king of Arad city lived in the area where the Canaan people-group lived, in the desert in the southern part of the land. He heard a report that the Israelis were approaching on the road to Atharim village. So his army attacked the Israelis and captured some of them.

3Yahweh heard what they requested, and he enabled them to defeat the army of the Canaan people-group. The Israeli soldiers killed all the people and destroyed their towns. Ever since that time, that place has been called Hormah which means ‘destruction’.

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Cross References

Genesis 28:20Jacob solemnly promised God, saying, “God, if you will help me and protect me while I am taking this journey, and if you give me enough food to eat and clothes to wear,

Leviticus 27:29‘No person who has done something that I consider to be very wicked is permitted to be freed from being punished; that person must surely be executed.

Deuteronomy 13:15kill all the people in that town. And kill all their livestock, too. Destroy the town completely.

Joshua 6:17Yahweh has declared that you must destroy [IDM] the city and everything in it to show that it belongs to him. You must spare only Rahab the prostitute and the others who are in her house, because she hid the spies whom we sent there.

Judges 11:30There Jephthah made a solemn promise to Yahweh. He said, “If you will enable my army to defeat [IDM] the Ammon people-group,

2 Samuel 15:7Four years later, Absalom went to the king and said, “Please allow me to go to Hebron city, in order that I can do what I promised Yahweh that I would do.

Matthew Henry on Numbers 21:2-4

Arad Subdued. ( b. c. 1452.) 1 And when king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south, heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies; then he fought against Israel, and took some of them prisoners. 2 And Israel vowed a vow unto the Lord , and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities. 3 And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and he called the name of the… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Numbers 21:2