Bible Meaning: Rushing (brawling) stream
Strong's Concordance #H769
The Arnon River, which flows into the Dead Sea on its eastern side, was once the dividing line between territory controlled by the Moabites and Amorites.
The children of Israel, under Moses' leadership, conquer the Amorites in late 1406 B.C. The land north of the Arnon is ultimately given to the tribes of Reuben and Gad (Deuteronomy 3:16, Joshua 13).
Later the Ammonites (not to be confused with the Amorites) try to take the land north of the Arnon for themselves. Israel, under the leadership of Jephthah, defeats them in battle (Judges 11:12 - 33).
Important Verses
Numbers 21:10, 13, 26
And the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in Oboth . . .
From thence they removed, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that cometh out of the coasts of the Amorites . . .
For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even unto Arnon.
Deuteronomy 2:17 - 18, 24
That the Lord spake unto me (Moses), saying, thou art to pass over through Ar, the coast of Moab, this day . . .
Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle.
Joshua 12:1
Now these are the kings of the land, which the children of Israel smote, and possessed their land on the other side Jordan toward the rising of the sun, from the river Arnon unto mount Hermon, and all the plain on the east:
Judges 11:11, 13
Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and captain over them: and Jephthah uttered all his words before the Lord in Mizpeh . . .
And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and unto Jordan: now therefore restore those lands again peaceably.
Isaiah 16:1 - 2
Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.
For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon.
Jeremiah 48:20
Moab is confounded: for it is broken down: howl and cry: tell ye it in Arnon, that Moab is spoiled