Heshbon was the first major battle of the Israelites against the Amorite kings. Sihon was recognized as king of the region east of the Jordan River at the northern part of the Dead Sea. Once the capital of Sihon's kingdom, it became one of the towns allocated to the Reubenites by Moses before Joshua assumed leadership of the conquest of Canaan after Moses died.
Numbers 21:25-31:
25. Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its surrounding settlements.
26. Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken from him all his land as far as the Arnon.
27. That is why the poets say: "Come to Heshbon and let it be rebuilt; let Sihon's city be restored.
28. "Fire went out from Heshbon, a blaze from the city of Sihon. It consumed Ar of Moab, the citizens of Arnon's heights.
29. Woe to you, O Moab! You are destroyed, O people of Chemosh! He has given up his sons as fugitives and his daughters as captives to Sihon king of the Amorites.
30. "But we have overthrown them; Heshbon is destroyed all the way to Dibon. We have demolished them as far as Nophah, which extends to Medeba."
31. So Israel settled in the land of the Amorites.
Numbers 32:1-4,37-38:
1. The Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were suitable for livestock.
2. So they came to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the community, and said,
3. "Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo and Beon--
4. the land the LORD subdued before the people of Israel--are suitable for livestock, and your servants have livestock.
...
37. And the Reubenites rebuilt Heshbon, Elealeh and Kiriathaim,
38. as well as Nebo and Baal Meon (these names were changed) and Sibmah. They gave names to the cities they rebuilt.
Deuteronomy 1:4 began a speech Moses gave before he sent spies from Kadesh Barnea:
4. This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, and at Edrei had defeated Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth.
King Sihon denied the Israelites safe passage through his lands in Deuteronomy 2:24-30:
24. "Set out now and cross the Arnon Gorge. See, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his country. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle.
25. This very day I will begin to put the terror and fear of you on all the nations under heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble and be in anguish because of you."
26. From the desert of Kedemoth I sent messengers to Sihon king of Heshbon offering peace and saying,
27. "Let us pass through your country. We will stay on the main road; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left.
28. Sell us food to eat and water to drink for their price in silver. Only let us pass through on foot--
29. as the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, did for us--until we cross the Jordan into the land the LORD our God is giving us."
30. But Sihon king of Heshbon refused to let us pass through. For the LORD your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to give him into your hands, as he has now done.
In Deuteronomy 3:2-6, Sihon's defeat as well as that of Bashan:
2. The LORD said to me, "Do not be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon."
3. So the LORD our God also gave into our hands Og king of Bashan and all his army. We struck them down, leaving no survivors.
4. At that time we took all his cities. There was not one of the sixty cities that we did not take from them--the whole region of Argob, Og's kingdom in Bashan.
5. All these cities were fortified with high walls and with gates and bars, and there were also a great many unwalled villages.
6. We completely destroyed them, as we had done with Sihon king of Heshbon, destroying every city--men, women and children.
Deuteronomy 4:44-47:
44. This is the law Moses set before the Israelites.
45. These are the stipulations, decrees and laws Moses gave them when they came out of Egypt
46. and were in the valley near Beth Peor east of the Jordan, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon and was defeated by Moses and the Israelites as they came out of Egypt.
47. They took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan.
Deuteronomy 29:7:
7. When you reached this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out to fight against us, but we defeated them.
Joshua 12:1-6:
1. These are the kings of the land whom the Israelites had defeated and whose territory they took over east of the Jordan, from the Arnon Gorge to Mount Hermon, including all the eastern side of the Arabah:
2. Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon. He ruled from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge--from the middle of the gorge--to the Jabbok River, which is the border of the Ammonites. This included half of Gilead.
3. He also ruled over the eastern Arabah from the Sea of Kinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea), to Beth Jeshimoth, and then southward below the slopes of Pisgah.
4. And the territory of Og king of Bashan, one of the last of the Rephaites, who reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei.
5. He ruled over Mount Hermon, Salecah, all of Bashan to the border of the people of Geshur and Maacah, and half of Gilead to the border of Sihon king of Heshbon.
6. Moses, the servant of the LORD, and the Israelites conquered them. And Moses the servant of the LORD gave their land to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh to be their possession.
Joshua 13:8-28:
8. The other half of Manasseh, the Reubenites and the Gadites had received the inheritance that Moses had given them east of the Jordan, as he, the servant of the LORD, had assigned it to them.
9. It extended from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the middle of the gorge, and included the whole plateau of Medeba as far as Dibon,
10. and all the towns of Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, out to the border of the Ammonites.
11. It also included Gilead, the territory of the people of Geshur and Maacah, all of Mount Hermon and all Bashan as far as Salecah--
12. that is, the whole kingdom of Og in Bashan, who had reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei and had survived as one of the last of the Rephaites. Moses had defeated them and taken over their land.
13. But the Israelites did not drive out the people of Geshur and Maacah, so they continue to live among the Israelites to this day.
14. But to the tribe of Levi he gave no inheritance, since the offerings made by fire to the LORD, the God of Israel, are their inheritance, as he promised them.
15. This is what Moses had given to the tribe of Reuben, clan by clan:
16. The territory from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the middle of the gorge, and the whole plateau past Medeba
17. to Heshbon and all its towns on the plateau, including Dibon, Bamoth Baal, Beth Baal Meon,
18. Jahaz, Kedemoth, Mephaath,
19. Kiriathaim, Sibmah, Zereth Shahar on the hill in the valley,
20. Beth Peor, the slopes of Pisgah, and Beth Jeshimoth
21. --all the towns on the plateau and the entire realm of Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled at Heshbon. Moses had defeated him and the Midianite chiefs, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba--princes allied with Sihon--who lived in that country.
22. In addition to those slain in battle, the Israelites had put to the sword Balaam son of Beor, who practiced divination.
23. The boundary of the Reubenites was the bank of the Jordan. These towns and their villages were the inheritance of the Reubenites, clan by clan.
24. This is what Moses had given to the tribe of Gad, clan by clan:
25. The territory of Jazer, all the towns of Gilead and half the Ammonite country as far as Aroer, near Rabbah;
26. and from Heshbon to Ramath Mizpah and Betonim, and from Mahanaim to the territory of Debir;
27. and in the valley, Beth Haram, Beth Nimrah, Succoth and Zaphon with the rest of the realm of Sihon king of Heshbon (the east side of the Jordan, the territory up to the end of the Sea of Kinnereth).
28. These towns and their villages were the inheritance of the Gadites, clan by clan.
Judges 11:19,26:
19. "Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, `Let us pass through your country to our own place.'
26. For three hundred years Israel occupied Heshbon, Aroer, the surrounding settlements and all the towns along the Arnon. Why didn't you retake them during that time?
1 Chronicles 6:77-81: (also stated in Joshua 21:34-40)
77. The Merarites (the rest of the Levites) received the following: From the tribe of Zebulun they received Jokneam, Kartah, Rimmono and Tabor, together with their pasturelands;
78. from the tribe of Reuben across the Jordan east of Jericho they received Bezer in the desert, Jahzah,
79. Kedemoth and Mephaath, together with their pasturelands;
80. and from the tribe of Gad they received Ramoth in Gilead, Mahanaim,
81. Heshbon and Jazer, together with their pasturelands.
The Israelites recalled their victories in Heshbon and Bashan in Nehemiah 9:22 while Song of Solomon 7:4 made mention of "the pools of Heshbon by the gate of Bath Rabbim".
Prophets referred to Heshbon in Isaiah 15:4 and 16:8-9 as well as Jeremiah 48, verses 2, 34, 45 and in Jeremiah 49:3.
