Therefore the ballad singers say: It is important to make clear how the song/poem of verses 27-30 relates to verse 26. The song does not apply to what the Israelites just did by defeating King Sihon. Rather, it applies to what King Sihon had done in the past by defeating the Moabites. New Living Translation (1996) makes the connection clear by rendering this clause as “For this reason the ancient poets wrote this about him [Sihon].” The Hebrew root rendered ballad singers (m sh l) is quite generic, meaning “formulate a poetic expression [or, proverb],” “compare,” or “be like.” Ballad singers is perhaps too specific. It is better to use a more generic rendering, such as “poets” (Good News Bible, De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling) or “bards” (New Jewish Publication Society Version). The Hebrew uses the same root m sh l for Balaam’s prophecies, which Levine calls poetically “balanced verse[s],” in chapters 23–24 (see, for example, 23.7, where Revised Standard Version renders it “discourse”). The poets recited or sang the following poem repeatedly, so New Jewish Publication Society Version translates this clause as “Therefore the bards would recite.”
The poem in verses 27b-30 may be Amorite in origin, at least in part. It is a victory song that celebrates the greatness of the Amorite city Heshbon and King Sihon’s conquest of Moab. In the present context the purpose of quoting this poem is to confirm what is reported in verse 26 and to celebrate the magnitude of Israel’s victory over Sihon. Israel destroyed the man who had defeated Moab. Why would a victory song celebrating one foreign nation’s defeat of another have been preserved in the text? Israel’s anti-Moabite tradition may have led to the inclusion of this song. Another suggestion is that it is placed here “to justify Israel’s right to hold the land … lying between the Arnon and the Jabbok” (see Jdg 11.12-28). Jer 48.45-46 contains a slightly different form of the same song as the one here.
According to some commentators, the Israelites are mocking their defeated Amorite enemy here. Other commentators suggest that it is important to maintain the original context of this song at the time of Sihon’s victory over the Moabites. Its application to Israel then is by implication: they have just conquered the well-known King Sihon, who had defeated the Moabites. Given the song’s present form and context, it is probably Israelite poets who are the speakers. The poem begins and ends with the situation of the present: Israel has destroyed the country of Sihon (verses 27b, 30). Verses 28-29 refer to the past, in which Sihon destroyed Moab (so De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling translators’ notes).
The phrases, parallelisms, word-pairings, and verbs doing double duty in this poem are quite standard in Hebrew poetry.
Come to Heshbon, let it be built is parallel with let the city of Sihon be established. In this context of the destroyed city of Heshbon, built and established have the sense of “rebuilt” and “restored” (Good News Bible). New Living Translation provides a helpful model for these two lines, saying “Come to Heshbon and let it be rebuilt! Let the city of Sihon be restored.”
Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .