1 And it came to be in those days that there was a great battle between the children of Kush and the children of the East and Aram, and they rebelled against the sovereign of Kush in whose hands they were.
2 So Kikianus sovereign of Kush went forth with all the children of Kush, a people numerous as the sand, and he went to fight against Aram and the children of the East, to bring them under subjection.
3 And when Kikianus went out, he left Bil’am the magician, with his two sons, to guard the city, and the lowest sort of the people of the land.
4 So Kikianus went out to Aram and the children of the East, and he fought against them and smote them, and they all fell down wounded before Kikianus and his people.
5 And he took many of them captives and he brought them under subjection as at first, and he encamped on their land to take tribute from them as usual.
6 And Bil’am son of Be’or, when the sovereign of Kush had left him to guard the city and the poor of the city, he rose up and conspired with the people of the land to rebel against sovereign Kikianus, not to let him enter the city when he should come home.
7 And the people of the land listened to him, and they swore to him and made him sovereign over them, and his two sons for captains of the army.
8 So they rose up and raised the walls of the city at the two corners, and they built an exceedingly strong building.
9 And at the third corner they dug ditches without number, between the city and the river which surrounded the whole land of Kush, and they made the waters of the river burst forth there.
10 At the fourth corner they collected numerous serpents by their spells and divination, and they fortified the city and dwelt in it, and no one went out or in before them.
11 And Kikianus fought against Aram and the children of the East and he subdued them as before, and they gave him their usual tribute, and he went and returned to his land.
12 And when Kikianus the sovereign of Kush approached his city and all the captains of the armies with him, they lifted up their eyes and saw that the walls of the city were built up and greatly raised, so the men were astonished at this.
13 And they said to one another, “It is because they saw that we were delayed in battle and were greatly afraid of us, that is why they have done this matter and raised the city walls and fortified them so that the sovereigns of Kena’an might not come in battle against them.”
14 So the sovereign and the companies approached the city door and they looked up and see, all the gates of the city were closed, and they called out to the watchmen, saying, “Open for us, that we may enter the city.”
15 But the watchmen refused to open to them by the order of Bil’am the magician, their sovereign, they did not allow them to enter their city.
16 So they appointed a battle with them opposite the city gate, and one hundred and thirty men of the army at Kikianus fell on that day.
17 And on the next day they continued to fight, and they fought at the side of the river. They strove to pass but were not able, so some of them sank in the pits and died.
18 So the sovereign ordered them to cut down trees to make rafts, on which they might pass over to them, and they did so.
19 And when they came to the place of the ditches, the waters revolved by mills, and two hundred men on ten rafts were drowned.
20 And on the third day they came to fight at the side where the serpents were, but they could not approach there, for the serpents slew of them one hundred and seventy men, and they ceased fighting against Kush. And they besieged Kush for nine years, no person came out or in.
21 At that time when the battle and the siege was against Kush, Mosheh fled from Mitsrayim from Pharaoh who sought to kill him for having slain the Mitsrite.
22 And Mosheh was eighteen years old when he fled from Mitsrayim from the presence of Pharaoh, and he fled and escaped to the camp of Kikianus, which at that time was besieging Kush.
23 And Mosheh was nine years in the camp of Kikianus sovereign of Kush, all the time that they were besieging Kush, and Mosheh went out and came in with them.
24 And the sovereign and princes and all the fighting men loved Mosheh, for he was great and worthy. His stature was like a noble lion, his face was like the sun, and his strength was like that of a lion, and he was counsellor to the sovereign.
25 And at the end of nine years, Kikianus was seized with a deadly disease, and his illness prevailed over him, and he died on the seventh day.
26 So his servants embalmed him and carried him and buried him opposite the city gate to the north of the land of Mitsrayim.
27 And they built an elegant, strong and high building over him, and they placed great stones below.
28 And the sovereign’s scribes engraved on those stones all the might of their sovereign Kikianus, and all his battles which he had fought. See, they are written there at this day.
29 Now after the death of Kikianus sovereign of Kush, it grieved his men and companies greatly because of the battle.
30 So they said one to the other, “Give us counsel what we are to do at this time, as we have dwelt in the wilderness nine years away from our homes.
31 “If we say we will fight against the city, many of us will fall wounded or killed, and if we remain here in the siege we shall also die,
32 for now all the sovereigns of Aram and of the children of the East will hear that our sovereign is dead, and they will attack us suddenly in a hostile manner, and they will fight against us and leave no remnant of us.
33 “Now therefore let us go and make a sovereign over us, and let us remain in the siege until the city is delivered up to us.”
34 And they desired to choose on that day a man for a sovereign from the army of Kikianus, but they found none of their choice like Mosheh to reign over them.
35 And they hastened and each man stripped off his garments and cast them upon the ground, and they made a great heap and placed Mosheh upon it.
36 And they rose up and blew with trumpets and called out before him, and said, “May the sovereign live, may the sovereign live!”
37 And all the people and nobles swore to him to give him Aḏoniyah the sovereigness, the Kushite, wife of Kikianus for a wife, and they made Mosheh sovereign over them on that day.
38 And all the people of Kush sent a call on that day, saying, “Every man must give something to Mosheh of what is in his possession.”
39 And they spread out a sheet on the heap, and every man cast into it something of what he had, one a gold earring and the other a coin.
40 Also of shoham stones, bdellium, pearls and marble the children of Kush cast to Mosheh on the heap, also silver and gold in great quantities.
41 And Mosheh took all the silver and gold, all the vessels, and the bdellium and shoham stones, which all the children of Kush had given to him, and he placed them among his treasures.
42 And Mosheh reigned over the children of Kush on that day, in the place of Kikianus sovereign of Kush.