Numbers 21:31 (LSB)

Passage

Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites.

Nearby Context

Numbers 21:29 Woe to you, O Moab! You perish, O people of Chemosh! He has given his sons as fugitives, And his daughters into captivity, To an Amorite king, Sihon.

Numbers 21:30 But we have cast them down, Heshbon perishes as far as Dibon, And we have made desolate even to Nophah, Which reaches to Medeba.”

Numbers 21:31 Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites.

Numbers 21:32 And Moses sent to spy out Jazer, and they captured its towns and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.

Numbers 21:33 Then they turned and went up by the way of Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan went out to meet them, he and all his people for battle at Edrei.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "thus", "israel", "lived", "land", and "amorites". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "thus" and "israel", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 30's "But we have cast them down Heshbon..." into verse 32's "And Moses sent to spy out Jazer...", so "thus" and "israel" belong inside that flow. In Numbers context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "thus" and "israel" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.