Heshbon

Heshbon is the royal city of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Israel takes it on the way to the promised land. A short old poem in Numbers 21 celebrates the victory: “there is a fire gone out of Heshbon.” Later the prophets use the city’s name in warnings to Moab and Ammon. Isaiah says its fields “languish,” and Jeremiah hears “the cry of Heshbon” rising as its neighbours fall. The place begins as a conquest and ends as a lament. Numbers 21 tells how Israel won it, and Jeremiah 48 shows the later sorrow.

18 verses

Numbers

Numbers 21:25

And Israel took all these cities: and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the villages thereof.

Numbers 21:26

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 unto Arnon.

Numbers 21:27

Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say, Come into Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and prepared:

Numbers 21:28

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.

Numbers 21:29

Woe to thee, Moab! thou art undone, O people of Chemosh: he hath given his sons that escaped, and his daughters, into captivity unto Sihon king of the Amorites.

Numbers 21:30

We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba.

Numbers 21:31

Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites.

Numbers 21:32

And Moses sent to spy out Jaazer, and they took the villages thereof, and drove out the Amorites that were there.

Numbers 21:33

And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he, and all his people, to the battle at Edrei.

Numbers 21:34

And the LORD said unto Moses, Fear him not: for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon.

Numbers 21:35

So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him alive: and they possessed his land.

Isaiah

Isaiah 16:8

For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come even unto Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 48:2

There shall be no more praise of Moab: in Heshbon they have devised evil against it; come, and let us cut it off from being a nation. Also thou shalt be cut down, O Madmen; the sword shall pursue thee.

Jeremiah 48:34

From the cry of Heshbon even unto Elealeh, and even unto Jahaz, have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even unto Horonaim, as an heifer of three years old: for the waters also of Nimrim shall be desolate.

Jeremiah 48:35

Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, saith the LORD, him that offereth in the high places, and him that burneth incense to his gods.

Jeremiah 49:1

Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the LORD; Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities?

Jeremiah 49:2

Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, saith the LORD.

Jeremiah 49:3

Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled: cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and run to and fro by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

Intelligence, a city ruled over by Sihon, king of the Amorites (Josh. 3:10; 13:17). It was taken by Moses (Num. 21:23-26), and became afterwards a Levitical city (Josh. 21:39) in the tribe of Reuben (Num. 32:37). After the Exile it was taken possession of by the Moabites (Isa. 15:4; Jer. 48:2, 34, 45). The ruins of this town are still seen about 20 miles east of Jordan from the north end of the Dead Sea. There are reservoirs in this district, which are probably the “fishpools” referred to in Cant. 7:4.

From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

(stronghold), the capital city of Sihon king of the Amorites. (Numbers 21:26) It stood on the western border of the high plain --Mishor, (Joshua 13:17) --and on the boundary line between the tribes of Reuben and Gad. The ruins of Hesban , 20 miles east of the Jordan, on the parallel of the northern end of the Dead Sea mark the site, as they bear the name; of the ancient Heshbon. There are many cisterns among the ruins. Comp. (Solomon 7:4)

Based on Nave's Topical Bible by Orville J. Nave (1896). Dictionary entries from Easton's Bible Dictionary and Smith's Bible Dictionary. Public domain. KJV scripture text, public domain.