Numbers 21:27

27. They that speak in proverbs The ballad-singers. Here we have a scrap of Amorite poetry in three strophes:

“Come ye to Heshbon,

Let the city of Sihon be built and established!

For fire went forth from Heshbon,

A flame out of the stronghold of Sihon,

Which devoured Ar of Moab,

The lords of the high places of Arnon.

“Woe to thee, Moab!

Thou art undone, O people of Chemosh!

He hath given up his sons as fugitives,

And his daughters into captivity,

To Sihon, king of the Amorites.

“Then we cast them down; Heshbon perished even unto Dibon,

And we laid (it) waste unto Nophah, with fire unto Medeba.”

If this song be of Hebrew origin, then the former part of it is a biting taunt: “Come, ye Amorites, into your city of Heshbon and build it up again. Ye boasted that ye had burnt it and driven out the Moabites; but now we are come in our turn, and have burnt Heshbon and driven you out.”