Single lesson
Israel Meets Sihon and Og
Numbers 21:21–35
In this passage, Israel meets two kings on the way, and each meeting leads to battle. Students will trace the order of events, notice the choices made, and consider how the passage shows both human action and Yahweh’s word.
Before you teach
Numbers 21:21–35 tells what happened when Israel asked Sihon to let them pass through his land, staying on the king’s highway and not using fields, vineyards, or wells. The passage also includes a proverb about Heshbon, reports what happened at Jazer, and records Yahweh’s words to Moses before the battle with Og.
Students will be able to sequence Numbers 21:21–35 and explain from the text the choices made by Sihon and Og, and Yahweh’s word to Moses about Og.
Welcome: What choices begin this account?
5 minWrite three key words on the board: request, refusal, battle. Explain that the passage begins with Israel sending messengers to Sihon with a specific request. Ask students to listen for what Israel promises not to do, what road they plan to use, and how Sihon answers. Keep the focus on careful reading of the words in the passage.
Numbers 21:21, Numbers 21:22, Numbers 21:23
Read and explain: Sihon refuses and fights
9 minRead Numbers 21:21–25 aloud. Point out that Israel asks to pass through, stay on the king’s highway, and not use fields, vineyards, or wells. Sihon does not allow passage, gathers his people, and fights at Jahaz. Israel then strikes him and takes his land and cities. Trace the order clearly: request, refusal, battle, possession.
Numbers 21:22, Numbers 21:23, Numbers 21:24, Numbers 21:25
Discuss: Heshbon, the proverb, and Jazer
8 minRead Numbers 21:26–32. Explain that verses 27–30 are introduced as words spoken in proverbs about Heshbon, showing that Sihon had taken land from Moab. Then notice the account returns to direct action: Israel lived in the Amorite land, and Moses sent to spy out Jazer. They took its villages and drove out the Amorites who were there.
Numbers 21:26, Numbers 21:27, Numbers 21:30, Numbers 21:31, Numbers 21:32
Make and respond: Sequence cards for Sihon and Og
11 minStudents make simple sequence cards with short captions from the passage, then place them in order. Include events such as messengers sent, request to pass, Sihon fights, Israel takes cities, proverb about Heshbon, Jazer spied out and its villages taken, Og goes out to battle, Yahweh says do not fear, and Israel possesses Og’s land. Students then explain one choice and its outcome from the text.
Numbers 21:21, Numbers 21:23, Numbers 21:25, Numbers 21:27, Numbers 21:32, Numbers 21:33, Numbers 21:34, Numbers 21:35
Closing: Yahweh’s word before the battle with Og
7 minRead Numbers 21:33–35. Emphasise that Og the king of Bashan went out against Israel, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. Before the battle, Yahweh speaks to Moses and says, ‘Don’t fear him.’ Ask students to summarise the whole passage in three sentences: what Israel asked, what Sihon and Og did, and what Yahweh said.
Numbers 21:33, Numbers 21:34, Numbers 21:35
Questions to explore
What exactly did Israel promise when asking to pass through Sihon’s land?
Look for the details in the request, especially what they said they would not use and which road they would take.
Numbers 21:22
What choices did Sihon and Og each make, and what happened next in the passage?
Sihon would not allow Israel to pass and fought at Jahaz, and Og went out against them to battle at Edrei. Then trace the outcomes that follow each action.
Numbers 21:23, Numbers 21:24, Numbers 21:33, Numbers 21:35
Which verses are a proverb about Heshbon rather than direct story action, and why does that matter for reading the passage carefully?
Notice where the text says, ‘those who speak in proverbs say’, then identify how the account returns to Israel’s actions afterwards.
Numbers 21:27, Numbers 21:30, Numbers 21:31, Numbers 21:32
Make, think or respond
Battle Account Sequence Cards
What you’ll need
- plain paper or card
- pens or pencils
- Bible text
- scissors
Try it together
- Write nine short event cards from the passage, one event per card.
- Mix the cards and work alone or in pairs to place them in order.
- Check the order by rereading the verses and adjusting where needed.
- Choose one card and write one sentence about the choice or outcome shown there.
- Share the sequence with the group and explain one link between two events.
This activity helps students follow the order of Numbers 21:21–35 and notice how the passage moves from request, to conflict, to Yahweh’s word, to outcome.
Adapt for your group
- For younger or less confident readers, prepare the event captions in advance and ask students only to sort and match them to verses.
- For stronger readers, ask them to separate narrative verses from the proverb in verses 27–30 and explain the difference.
An optional closing prayer
‘Lord God, help us read this passage carefully, tell the truth about what it says, and learn to listen when you speak. Amen.’
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Numbers 21
21 Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,
22 “Let me pass through your land. We will not turn away into field or vineyard. We will not drink of the water of the wells. We will go by the king’s highway, until we have passed your border.”
23 Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his border, but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness, and came to Jahaz. He fought against Israel.
24 Israel struck him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, even to the children of Ammon; for the border of the children of Ammon was fortified.
25 Israel took all these cities. Israel lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages.
26 For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even to the Arnon.
27 Therefore those who speak in proverbs say, “Come to Heshbon. Let the city of Sihon be built and established;
28 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.
29 Woe to you, Moab! You are undone, people of Chemosh! He has given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity, to Sihon king of the Amorites.
30 We have shot at them. Heshbon has perished even to Dibon. We have laid waste even to Nophah, Which reaches to Medeba.”
31 Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites.
32 Moses sent to spy out Jazer. They took its villages, and drove out the Amorites who were there.
33 They turned and went up by the way of Bashan. Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.
34 Yahweh said to Moses, “Don’t fear him, for I have delivered him into your hand, with all his people, and his land. You shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.”
35 So they struck him, with his sons and all his people, until there were no survivors; and they possessed his land.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.