2 1 “we journeyed back into the wilderness, in the direction of the Red Sea, as the Lord had told me, and skirted Mount Seir for many days.(A) 2 Then the Lord said to me, 3 ‘You have been skirting this hill country long enough. Head north, 4 and charge the people as follows: “You are about to pass through the territory of your kindred, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so be very careful(B) 5 not to engage in battle with them, for I will not give you even so much as a foot’s length of their land, since I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.(C) 6 You shall purchase food from them for money, so that you may eat, and you shall also buy water from them for money, so that you may drink. 7 Surely the Lord your God has blessed you in all your undertakings; he knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.” ’(D) 8 So we passed by our kin, the descendants of Esau who live in Seir, leaving behind the route of the Arabah and leaving behind Elath and Ezion-geber.
“When we had headed out along the route of the wilderness of Moab,(E) 9 the Lord said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab or engage them in battle, for I will not give you any of its land as a possession, since I have given Ar as a possession to the descendants of Lot.’(F)
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