Charles Ellicott Commentary Numbers 21:27-30

"Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say, Come ye to Heshbon; Let the city of Sihon be built and established: For a fire is gone out of Heshbon, A flame from the city of Sihon: It hath devoured Ar of Moab, The lords of the high places of the Arnon. Woe to thee, Moab! Thou art undone, O people of Chemosh: He hath given his sons as fugitives, And his daughters into captivity, Unto Sihon king of the Amorites. We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, And we have laid waste even unto Nophah, Which [reacheth] unto Medeba." — Numbers 21:27-30 (ASV)

Come into Heshbon.— These verses appear to commemorate first the victory of the Amorites over the Moabites, and then that of the Israelites over the Amorites. They may be rendered as follows:

“Come you to Heshbon!
Let the city of Sihon be built up and restored!
For a fire went out from Heshbon—
A flame from the city of Sihon:
It devoured Ar (or, the city) of Moab—
The lords of the high places of Arnon.
Woe to you, Moab!
You are perished, O people of Chemosh:
He (i.e., Chemosh) gave up his sons as fugitives,
And his daughters into captivity,
To Sihon, the King of the Amorites.
We cast them down;
Heshbon is perished even to Dibon:
Indeed, we laid them waste even to Nophah,
Which (reaches) even to Medeba.”

Or, if we read esh (fire) instead of asher (which), a reading which derives some support from the Masoretic point over the last letter and from the context (Numbers 21:28), as well as from the Septuagint, the last words may be rendered, “With fire, even to Medeba.”

The Targum understands by “the lords of the high places of Arnon” the priests and worshippers in the temples and at the altars of the idols in Moab. Medeba, now Medaba, was situated at the south of Heshbon. The position of Nophah is unknown. It has been supposed that it may be the same as Nebo, which is mentioned in connection with Dibon and Medeba in Isaiah 15:2, or with Arneibah, which lies to the east of Medeba.