Deuteronomy 2
Christian Standard Bible
Journey past Seir
2 “Then we turned back and headed for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea,(A) as the Lord had told me, and we traveled around the hill country of Seir for many days. 2 The Lord then said to me, 3 ‘You’ve been traveling around this hill country long enough; turn north.(B) 4 Command the people: You are about to travel through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so be very careful. 5 Don’t provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even a foot of it,[a] because I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his possession.(C) 6 You may purchase food from them, so that you may eat, and buy water from them to drink.(D) 7 For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands.(E) He has watched over your journey through this immense wilderness. The Lord your God has been with you these past forty years, and you have lacked nothing.’(F)
Journey past Moab
8 “So we bypassed our brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned away from the Arabah road and from Elath and Ezion-geber.(G) We traveled along the road to the Wilderness of Moab. 9 The Lord said to me, ‘Show no hostility toward Moab, and do not provoke them to battle, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, since I have given Ar as a possession to the descendants of Lot.’”(H)
10 The Emim, a great and numerous people as tall as the Anakim,(I) had previously lived there. 11 They were also regarded as Rephaim,(J) like the Anakim, though the Moabites called them Emim.(K) 12 The Horites(L) had previously lived in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out, destroying them completely[b] and settling in their place, just as Israel did in the land of its possession the Lord gave them.
13 “The Lord said, ‘Now get up and cross the Zered Valley.’ So we crossed the Zered Valley.(M) 14 The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley was thirty-eight years until the entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them. 15 Indeed, the Lord’s hand was against them, to eliminate(N) them from the camp until they had all perished.(O)
Journey past Ammon
16 “When all the fighting men had died among the people, 17 the Lord spoke to me, 18 ‘Today you are going to cross the border of Moab at Ar. 19 When you get close to the Ammonites, don’t show any hostility to them or provoke them, for I will not give you any of the Ammonites’ land as a possession; I have given it as a possession to the descendants of Lot.’”(P)
20 This too used to be regarded as the land of the Rephaim. The Rephaim lived there previously, though the Ammonites called them Zamzummim,(Q) 21 a great and numerous people, tall as the Anakim. The Lord destroyed the Rephaim at the advance of the Ammonites, so that they drove them out and settled in their place. 22 This was just as he had done for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites before them; they drove them out and have lived in their place until now. 23 The Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor,[c](R) destroyed the Avvites, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, and settled in their place.
Defeat of Sihon the Amorite
24 “The Lord also said, ‘Get up, move out, and cross the Arnon Valley. See, I have handed the Amorites’ King Sihon of Heshbon and his land over to you. Begin to take possession of it; engage[d] him in battle.(S) 25 Today I will begin to put the fear and dread of you on the peoples everywhere under heaven. They will hear the report about you, tremble, and be in anguish because of you.’(T)
26 “So I sent messengers with an offer of peace(U) to King Sihon of Heshbon from the Wilderness of Kedemoth, saying, 27 ‘Let us travel through your land; we will keep strictly to the highway. We will not turn to the right or the left.(V) 28 You can sell us food in exchange for silver so we may eat, and give us water for silver so we may drink. Only let us travel through on foot, 29 just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir did for us, and the Moabites who live in Ar, until we cross the Jordan into the land the Lord our God is giving us.’ 30 But King Sihon of Heshbon would not let us travel through his land, for the Lord your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to hand him over to you, as has now taken place.(W)
31 “Then the Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land to you. Begin to take possession of it.’ 32 So Sihon and his whole army came out against us for battle at Jahaz. 33 The Lord our God handed him over to us,(X) and we defeated him, his sons, and his whole army. 34 At that time we captured all his cities and completely destroyed the people of every city, including the women and children. We left no survivors.(Y) 35 We took only the livestock and the spoil from the cities we captured as plunder for ourselves. 36 There was no city that was inaccessible to[e](Z) us, from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the valley, even as far as Gilead.(AA) The Lord our God gave everything to us. 37 But you did not go near the Ammonites’ land, all along the bank of the Jabbok River,(AB) the cities of the hill country, or any place that the Lord our God had forbidden.(AC)
Deuteronomy 2
International Standard Version
Israel Passes through Edomite Territory
2 “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. 2 Then the Lord told me, 3 ‘You’ve walked around this mountain long enough. Turn northward 4 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. 5 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. 6 You may buy food to eat and water to drink from them, paying[c] with cash.”’ 7 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. 8 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
9 “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.”
Israel Passes through Ammonite Territory
16 “And so all the soldiers among the people died. 17 Then the Lord spoke to me, 18 ‘Today, you are about to cross the border of Moab at Ar. 19 When you come to the Ammonites, don’t harass or provoke them to war, for I won’t give any part of Ammonite land to you, since I have given it to the descendants of Lot as their property.
20 “‘(Indeed, it was considered Rephaim[j] territory, since the Rephaim[k] used to lived there. The Ammonites called them Zamzummites, 21 a great people, numerous, and tall as the Anakim.[l] But the Lord destroyed the Rephaim,[m] so that the Ammonites dispossessed them and settled there instead. 22 This is what he did for the descendants of Esau who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites before them. So they dispossessed them and settled there in their place, where they live[n] to this day. 23 It was the same for the Avvites who lived in villages as far as Gaza. The Caphtorites, who came from Crete,[o] destroyed them and settled there in their place.) 24 Get ready and set out for the Wadi[p] Arnon. Look! I’ve given into your control Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, along with his land. Prepare to take possession by provoking him to war. 25 Starting today I will begin to instill fear and terror of you on the part of every nation under heaven who hears reports about you. They’ll tremble in anguish before you.’”
Israel Defeats Sihon, King of Heshbon
26 “I sent messengers from the desert of Kedemoth to King Sihon of Heshbon with this message of peace: 27 ‘Let me pass through your territory. I’ll stay on the main road. I won’t turn to the right or left. 28 Sell me food for cash,[q] so I can eat and give me water for cash,[r] so I can drink. Just let me pass through on foot, 29 as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir did for me, as did the Moabites who live in Ar. I’ll pass through,[s] until I will have crossed the Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is about to give us.’ 30 But King Sihon of Heshbon did not allow us to pass through, because the Lord your God had hardened his spirit and made him arrogant,[t] in order to deliver him into your control today.
31 “Then the Lord told me, ‘See, I’ve begun to deliver Sihon and his territory over to you. Prepare to take possession of his land.’
32 “Sihon came out to meet us, including his entire army, at the battle of Jahaz. 33 The Lord our God delivered him to us, so we attacked him, his son, and his whole army. 34 We captured all his towns at that time. We utterly destroyed every town—the men, the women, and the children—leaving no survivors. 35 We only appropriated the livestock for our use, along with plunder from the cities that we captured. 36 From Aroer on the edge of Arnon Valley and from the town all the way to Gilead, there was no city that was too strong for us—the Lord our God delivered them all to us. 37 You did not encroach onto Ammonite land, the banks of the Wadi[u] Jabbok, the towns in the hill country, and all the other places that were forbidden[v] by the Lord our God.”
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 2:1 So MT; LXX reads Red
- Deuteronomy 2:5 Lit. the treading of the calf of your foot
- Deuteronomy 2:6 The Heb. lacks paying
- Deuteronomy 2:10 I.e. a race of giants that formerly populated Canaan; cf. Num 13:22, 33; Deut 9:2
- Deuteronomy 2:11 I.e. a race of giants that formerly populated Canaan; cf. Num 13:22, 33; Deut 9:2
- Deuteronomy 2:11 I.e. a race of giants that formerly populated Canaan; cf. Num 13:22, 33
- Deuteronomy 2:13 I.e. a seasonal stream or river that channels water during rain seasons but is dry at other times
- Deuteronomy 2:13 I.e. a seasonal stream or river that channels water during rain seasons but is dry at other times
- Deuteronomy 2:14 I.e. a seasonal stream or river that channels water during rain seasons but is dry at other times
- Deuteronomy 2:20 I.e. a race of giants that formerly populated Canaan
- Deuteronomy 2:20 I.e. a race of giants that formerly populated Canaan
- Deuteronomy 2:21 I.e. a race of giants that formerly populated Canaan; cf. Num 13:22, 33; Deut 9:2
- Deuteronomy 2:21 I.e. a race of giants that formerly populated Canaan
- Deuteronomy 2:22 The Heb. lacks where they live
- Deuteronomy 2:23 Lit. Caphtor
- Deuteronomy 2:24 I.e. a seasonal stream or river that channels water during rain seasons but is dry at other times
- Deuteronomy 2:28 Lit. silver
- Deuteronomy 2:28 Lit. silver
- Deuteronomy 2:29 The Heb. lacks I’ll pass through
- Deuteronomy 2:30 Lit. and emboldened his heart
- Deuteronomy 2:37 I.e. a seasonal stream or river that channels water during rain seasons but is dry at other times
- Deuteronomy 2:37 Lit. commanded
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