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Israel Passes through Edomite Territory

“We turned and set out for the desert on the road to the Reed[a] Sea, just as the Lord had directed me. We traveled around Mount Seir for many days. Then the Lord told me, ‘You’ve walked around this mountain long enough. Turn northward and command this people, “You are about to pass through the territory of your relatives, the descendants of Esau who live around Seir. They will be afraid of you so be very careful. Don’t fight them, because I won’t give you any part of their land, not even the size of a footprint.[b] I have given Mount Seir to Esau as their property. You may buy food to eat and water to drink from them, paying[c] with cash.”’ Indeed, the Lord your God blessed all the works of your hands. He knows about your travels through this vast desert. The Lord your God was with you these past 40 years, so that you didn’t lack anything. So we bypassed our relatives, the descendants of Esau who live in Seir. We turned through the Arabah desert from Elath, and from Ezion-geber we traveled the desert road to Moab.”

Israel Passes through Moabite Territory

“Then the Lord told me, ‘Don’t harass Moab or provoke them to war, because I won’t give you any part of their land. I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as their property. 10 (The Emites, a people as powerful, numerous, and tall as the Anakim,[d] lived there before. 11 Like the Anakim,[e] they were thought of as Rephaim,[f] but the Moabites called them Emites. 12 The Horites used to live in Seir before the descendants of Esau dispossessed them, exterminated them, and settled there instead, just as Israel will do in the land of its possession, which the Lord gave them.) 13 Now get going and cross the Wadi[g] Zered.’ And so we crossed the Wadi[h] Zered. 14 Now from the time we left Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Wadi[i] Zered was 38 years. All of that generation, the soldiers in the camp, were destroyed just as the Lord swore they would be. 15 Indeed, the hand of the Lord was against them to root them out from the camp until they were utterly destroyed.”

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 2:1 So MT; LXX reads Red
  2. Deuteronomy 2:5 Lit. the treading of the calf of your foot
  3. Deuteronomy 2:6 The Heb. lacks paying
  4. Deuteronomy 2:10 I.e. a race of giants that formerly populated Canaan; cf. Num 13:22, 33; Deut 9:2
  5. Deuteronomy 2:11 I.e. a race of giants that formerly populated Canaan; cf. Num 13:22, 33; Deut 9:2
  6. Deuteronomy 2:11 I.e. a race of giants that formerly populated Canaan; cf. Num 13:22, 33
  7. Deuteronomy 2:13 I.e. a seasonal stream or river that channels water during rain seasons but is dry at other times
  8. Deuteronomy 2:13 I.e. a seasonal stream or river that channels water during rain seasons but is dry at other times
  9. Deuteronomy 2:14 I.e. a seasonal stream or river that channels water during rain seasons but is dry at other times