Deuteronomy 2
Lexham English Bible
2 “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. 2 Yahweh spoke to me, saying,[c] 3 ‘Long enough you have been skirting this mountain; turn yourselves north, 4 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. 5 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. 6 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. 7 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.”’ 8 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.
9 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
- Deuteronomy 2:1 Or “desert”
- Deuteronomy 2:1 Literally “sea of reeds”
- Deuteronomy 2:2 Literally “to say”
- Deuteronomy 2:4 Or “command”
- Deuteronomy 2:4 Literally “to say”
- Deuteronomy 2:4 Or “sons”
- Deuteronomy 2:5 Or “provoke”
- Deuteronomy 2:5 Literally “a sole’s foot of space”
- Deuteronomy 2:7 Literally “the work of your hand”
- Deuteronomy 2:7 Literally “your journeying”
- Deuteronomy 2:8 Or “sons”
- Deuteronomy 2:8 Or “Jordan Valley” since the Arabah is an extension of it
- Deuteronomy 2:8 Or “wilderness”
- Deuteronomy 2:9 Or “battle”
- Deuteronomy 2:9 Or “sons”
- Deuteronomy 2:10 Or “great” in the sense of influential
- Deuteronomy 2:12 Or “sons”
- Deuteronomy 2:12 Literally “from their presence”
- Deuteronomy 2:12 Literally “its/his”
- Deuteronomy 2:13 A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
- Deuteronomy 2:13 A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
- Deuteronomy 2:14 Literally “days”
- Deuteronomy 2:14 A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
- Deuteronomy 2:16 Literally “And it happened”
- Deuteronomy 2:16 Or “battle”
- Deuteronomy 2:16 Literally “had finished/completed to die”
- Deuteronomy 2:17 Literally “to say”
- Deuteronomy 2:18 Literally “the day”
- Deuteronomy 2:19 Literally “opposite”
- Deuteronomy 2:19 Literally “the sons/children of Ammon”
- Deuteronomy 2:19 Literally “the sons/children of Ammon”
- Deuteronomy 2:19 Or “sons”
- Deuteronomy 2:20 Literally “before”
- Deuteronomy 2:21 That is, the Ammonites
- Deuteronomy 2:22 Or “sons”
- Deuteronomy 2:22 Literally “from the face/presence of them”
- Deuteronomy 2:22 Hebrew “them”
- Deuteronomy 2:24 Or “Get up”
- Deuteronomy 2:24 A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
- Deuteronomy 2:25 Literally “your dread”
- Deuteronomy 2:25 Literally “upon the faces of”
- Deuteronomy 2:25 Literally “your report”
- Deuteronomy 2:25 Literally “from before you”
- Deuteronomy 2:26 Or “desert”
- Deuteronomy 2:26 Literally “to say”
- Deuteronomy 2:27 Literally “in the road, in the road”
- Deuteronomy 2:29 Or “the children/sons of”
- Deuteronomy 2:30 Literally “made firm his heart”
- Deuteronomy 2:30 Literally “to give him,” indicating purpose
- Deuteronomy 2:30 Literally “as it is this day”
- Deuteronomy 2:31 Literally “to the face of you”
- Deuteronomy 2:31 Literally, “take possession in order to possess his land”
- Deuteronomy 2:33 Literally “before us”
- Deuteronomy 2:33 Or “descendants”
- Deuteronomy 2:35 Hebrew “us”
- Deuteronomy 2:36 A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
- Deuteronomy 2:36 A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
- Deuteronomy 2:36 Literally “the whole”
- Deuteronomy 2:36 Literally “before us”
- Deuteronomy 2:37 Literally “children/sons of Ammon”
- Deuteronomy 2:37 Literally “wadi,” which here refers to a flowing river
Deuteronomy 2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
2 1
“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) 10 (The Emim—a large and numerous people, as tall as the Anakim—had formerly inhabited it.(G) 11 Like the Anakim, they are usually reckoned as Rephaim, though the Moabites call them Emim. 12 Moreover, the Horim had formerly inhabited Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed them, destroying them and settling in their place, as Israel has done in the land that the Lord gave them as a possession.)(H) 13 ‘Now then, proceed to cross over the Wadi Zered.’
“So we crossed over the Wadi Zered. 14 And the length of time we had traveled from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Wadi Zered was thirty-eight years, until the entire generation of warriors had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn concerning them.(I) 15 Indeed, the Lord’s own hand was against them, to root them out from the camp, until all had perished.(J)
16 “Just as soon as all the warriors had died off from among the people, 17 the Lord spoke to me, saying, 18 ‘Today you are going to cross the boundary of Moab at Ar. 19 When you approach the frontier of the Ammonites, do not harass them or engage them in battle, for I will not give the land of the Ammonites to you as a possession, because I have given it to the descendants of Lot.’(K) 20 (It also is usually reckoned as a land of Rephaim. Rephaim formerly inhabited it, though the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, 21 a strong and numerous people, as tall as the Anakim. But the Lord destroyed them from before the Ammonites[b] so that they could dispossess them and settle in their place.(L) 22 He did the same for the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, by destroying the Horites before them so that they could dispossess them and settle in their place even to this day.(M) 23 As for the Avvim, who had lived in settlements in the vicinity of Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and settled in their place.)(N) 24 ‘Proceed on your journey and cross the Wadi Arnon. See, I have handed over to you King Sihon the Amorite of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession by engaging him in battle.(O) 25 This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples everywhere under heaven; when they hear report of you, they will tremble and be in anguish because of you.’(P)
Defeat of King Sihon
26 “So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to King Sihon of Heshbon with the following terms of peace:(Q) 27 ‘If you let me pass through your land, I will travel only along the road; I will turn aside neither to the right nor to the left.(R) 28 You shall sell me food for money, so that I may eat, and supply me water for money, so that I may drink. Only allow me to pass through on foot(S)— 29 just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir have done for me and likewise the Moabites who live in Ar—until I cross the Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is giving us.’ 30 But King Sihon of Heshbon was not willing to let us pass through, for the Lord your God had hardened his spirit and made his heart defiant in order to hand him over to you, as he has now done.(T)
31 “The Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin now to take possession of his land.’(U) 32 So when Sihon came out against us, he and all his people for battle at Jahaz,(V) 33 the Lord our God gave him over to us, and we struck him down, along with his offspring and all his people. 34 At that time we captured all his towns, and in each town we utterly destroyed men, women, and children. We left not a single survivor.(W) 35 Only the livestock we kept as spoil for ourselves, as well as the plunder of the towns that we had captured. 36 From Aroer on the edge of the Wadi Arnon (including the town that is in the wadi itself) as far as Gilead, there was no citadel too high for us. The Lord our God gave everything to us.(X) 37 You did not encroach, however, on the land of the Ammonites, avoiding the whole upper region of the Wadi Jabbok as well as the towns of the hill country, just as[c] the Lord our God had charged.(Y)
2012 by Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.