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Then we turned and set out toward the wilderness[a] in the direction of the Red Sea,[b] as Yahweh told me, and we went around Mount Seir for many days. Yahweh spoke to me, saying,[c] Long enough you have been skirting this mountain; turn yourselves north, and instruct[d] the people, saying,[e] “You are about to cross through the territory of your brothers, the descendants[f] of Esau, who are living in Seir; they will be afraid of you, and so be very careful. Do not get involved in battle[g] with them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even a foot’s breadth[h] of it; since I have given Mount Seir as a possession for Esau. You shall buy food from them so that you may eat; and also you shall purchase water from them with money so that you may drink. The fact of the matter is, Yahweh your God has blessed you in all the work you have done;[i] he knows your travels[j] with respect to this great wilderness; forty years Yahweh your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing.”’ And so we passed by our brothers, the descendants[k] of Esau, who live in Seir, past the road of the Arabah,[l] from Elath and Ezion Geber, and we turned and traveled along the route of the desert[m] of Moab.

And Yahweh said to me, ‘You shall not attack Moab, and you shall not engage in war[n] with them, for I will not give you any of his land as a possession; I have given Ar to the descendants[o] of Lot as a possession.’ 10 (The Emim previously lived in it, a people large,[p] numerous, and tall, like the Anakites. 11 They were reckoned also as Rephaim as the Anakites were; but the Moabites called them Emim. 12 The Horites previously lived in Seir, but the descendants[q] of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from among themselves,[r] as Israel did with respect to the land of their[s] possession that Yahweh gave to them.) 13 So now arise and cross over the wadi[t] of Zered yourselves; and so we crossed the wadi[u] of Zered. 14 Now the length of time[v] that we had traveled from Kadesh Barnea until the time when we crossed the wadi[w] of Zered was thirty-eight years, until the perishing of all of that generation; that is, the men of war from the midst of the camp as Yahweh had sworn to them. 15 The hand of Yahweh was against them to root them out from the midst of the camp until they perished completely.

16 And then[x] when all the men of war[y] had died[z] from among the people, 17 Yahweh spoke to me, saying,[aa] 18 ‘You are about to cross over the boundary of Moab today[ab] at Ar. 19 When you approach the border of[ac] the Ammonites,[ad] you shall not harass them, and you shall not get involved in battle with them, for I have not given the land of the Ammonites[ae] to you as a possession; because I have given it to the descendants[af] of Lot as a possession. 20 (It is also considered the land of Rephaim; Rephaim lived in it previously,[ag] and the Ammonites called them Zamzummim, 21 a people great and numerous and as tall as the Anakites; Yahweh destroyed them from before them,[ah] and they dispossessed them and settled in place of them, 22 just as he did for the descendants[ai] of Esau, who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them[aj] and dispossessed them, and then they settled in their[ak] place up to this day. 23 And also the Avvites, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, and the Caphtorim, who came out from Caphtor, destroyed them and then settled in their place. 24 Arise,[al] set out and cross over the wadi[am] of Arnon. Look! I have given Sihon the Amorite, the king of Heshbon, and his land into your hand; begin to take possession of it, and engage with him in battle. 25 This day I will begin to place the dread of you[an] and the fear of you before[ao] the peoples under all the heavens. They will hear the report about you,[ap] and so they will shake and tremble because of you.’ [aq]

26 “So I sent messengers from the wilderness[ar] of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon; I sent terms of peace, saying,[as] 27 ‘Let me cross through your land and only along the road[at] I will go; I will not turn aside to the right or to the left. 28 Food for money you shall sell me, so that I may eat, and water for money you will give to me, so that I may drink; just let me cross on foot. 29 Just as the descendants[au] of Esau did for me, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, until I cross the Jordan into the land that Yahweh our God is giving to us.’ 30 But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing to let us cross through his territory because Yahweh your God hardened his spirit and made him obstinate[av] in order to give him[aw] into your hand, just as he has now done.[ax] 31 Yahweh said to me, ‘Look! I have begun to give over to you[ay] Sihon and his land; begin to take possession of his land.’[az] 32 Then Sihon and all his people came out to meet us for battle at Jahaz. 33 And so Yahweh our God gave him over to us,[ba] and we struck him down, and his sons[bb] and all of his people. 34 So we captured all of his cities at that time, and we destroyed each town of males and the women and the children; we did not leave behind a survivor. 35 We took only the livestock as spoil for ourselves,[bc] and also the booty of the cities that we had captured. 36 From Aroer, which is on the edge of the wadi[bd] of Arnon and the city that was in the wadi[be] on up to Gilead, there was not a city that was inaccessible to us; Yahweh our God gave everything[bf] to us.[bg] 37 Only the land of the Ammonites[bh] you did not approach, all along the whole upper region of the Jabbok River[bi] and the towns of the hill country, according to all that Yahweh our God had instructed.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 2:1 Or “desert”
  2. Deuteronomy 2:1 Literally “sea of reeds”
  3. Deuteronomy 2:2 Literally “to say”
  4. Deuteronomy 2:4 Or “command”
  5. Deuteronomy 2:4 Literally “to say”
  6. Deuteronomy 2:4 Or “sons”
  7. Deuteronomy 2:5 Or “provoke”
  8. Deuteronomy 2:5 Literally “a sole’s foot of space”
  9. Deuteronomy 2:7 Literally “the work of your hand”
  10. Deuteronomy 2:7 Literally “your journeying”
  11. Deuteronomy 2:8 Or “sons”
  12. Deuteronomy 2:8 Or “Jordan Valley” since the Arabah is an extension of it
  13. Deuteronomy 2:8 Or “wilderness”
  14. Deuteronomy 2:9 Or “battle”
  15. Deuteronomy 2:9 Or “sons”
  16. Deuteronomy 2:10 Or “great” in the sense of influential
  17. Deuteronomy 2:12 Or “sons”
  18. Deuteronomy 2:12 Literally “from their presence”
  19. Deuteronomy 2:12 Literally “its/his”
  20. Deuteronomy 2:13 A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
  21. Deuteronomy 2:13 A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
  22. Deuteronomy 2:14 Literally “days”
  23. Deuteronomy 2:14 A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
  24. Deuteronomy 2:16 Literally “And it happened”
  25. Deuteronomy 2:16 Or “battle”
  26. Deuteronomy 2:16 Literally “had finished/completed to die”
  27. Deuteronomy 2:17 Literally “to say”
  28. Deuteronomy 2:18 Literally “the day”
  29. Deuteronomy 2:19 Literally “opposite”
  30. Deuteronomy 2:19 Literally “the sons/children of Ammon”
  31. Deuteronomy 2:19 Literally “the sons/children of Ammon”
  32. Deuteronomy 2:19 Or “sons”
  33. Deuteronomy 2:20 Literally “before”
  34. Deuteronomy 2:21 That is, the Ammonites
  35. Deuteronomy 2:22 Or “sons”
  36. Deuteronomy 2:22 Literally “from the face/presence of them”
  37. Deuteronomy 2:22 Hebrew “them”
  38. Deuteronomy 2:24 Or “Get up”
  39. Deuteronomy 2:24 A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
  40. Deuteronomy 2:25 Literally “your dread”
  41. Deuteronomy 2:25 Literally “upon the faces of”
  42. Deuteronomy 2:25 Literally “your report”
  43. Deuteronomy 2:25 Literally “from before you”
  44. Deuteronomy 2:26 Or “desert”
  45. Deuteronomy 2:26 Literally “to say”
  46. Deuteronomy 2:27 Literally “in the road, in the road”
  47. Deuteronomy 2:29 Or “the children/sons of”
  48. Deuteronomy 2:30 Literally “made firm his heart”
  49. Deuteronomy 2:30 Literally “to give him,” indicating purpose
  50. Deuteronomy 2:30 Literally “as it is this day”
  51. Deuteronomy 2:31 Literally “to the face of you”
  52. Deuteronomy 2:31 Literally, “take possession in order to possess his land”
  53. Deuteronomy 2:33 Literally “before us”
  54. Deuteronomy 2:33 Or “descendants”
  55. Deuteronomy 2:35 Hebrew “us”
  56. Deuteronomy 2:36 A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
  57. Deuteronomy 2:36 A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
  58. Deuteronomy 2:36 Literally “the whole”
  59. Deuteronomy 2:36 Literally “before us”
  60. Deuteronomy 2:37 Literally “children/sons of Ammon”
  61. Deuteronomy 2:37 Literally “wadi,” which here refers to a flowing river

Journey past Seir

“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. The Lord then said to me, ‘You’ve been traveling around this hill country long enough; turn north.(B) 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. 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) You may purchase food from them, so that you may eat, and buy water from them to drink.(D) 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

“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. 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)

Footnotes

  1. 2:5 Lit land as far as the width of a sole of a foot
  2. 2:12 Lit them before them
  3. 2:23 Probably Crete
  4. 2:24 Or provoke
  5. 2:36 Or was too high for