Deuteronomy 2
New American Standard Bible
Wanderings in the Wilderness
2 “(A)Then we turned and set out for the wilderness by the way of the [a]Red Sea, as the Lord spoke to me, and we circled (B)Mount Seir for many days. 2 And the Lord spoke to me, saying, 3 ‘You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north, 4 (C)and command the people, saying, “You are going to pass through the (D)territory of your brothers the sons of Esau, who live in Seir; and (E)they will be afraid of you. So be very careful; 5 do not [b]provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even as much as a [c]footprint, (F)because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. 6 You are to buy food from them with money so that you may eat, and you shall also purchase water from them with money so that you may drink. 7 For the Lord your God has blessed you in all [d]that you have done; He has known your [e]wandering through this (G)great wilderness. These (H)forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have not lacked anything.”’
8 “So we passed beyond our brothers the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the (I)Arabah road, away from Elath and (J)Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed through by the way of the wilderness of Moab. 9 Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not attack Moab, nor provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of [f]their land as a possession, because I have given (K)Ar to (L)the sons of Lot as a possession.’ 10 (The (M)Emim lived there previously, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim. 11 Like the Anakim, they too are regarded as (N)Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim. 12 (O)The Horites previously lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before [g]them, and settled in their place; (P)just as Israel did to the land of [h]their possession which the Lord gave them.) 13 ‘Now arise and cross over the [i]Wadi Zered yourselves.’ So we crossed over the [j]Wadi Zered. 14 Now the [k]time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the [l]Wadi Zered was (Q)thirty-eight years, until (R)all the generation of the men of war perished from within the camp, just as (S)the Lord had sworn to them. 15 (T)Indeed, the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from within the camp until they all perished.
16 “So it came about, when (U)all the men of war had finally perished from among the people, 17 that the Lord spoke to me, saying, 18 ‘Today you shall cross over (V)Ar, the border of Moab. 19 When you come opposite the (W)sons of Ammon, do not attack them nor provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to (X)the sons of Lot as a possession.’ 20 (It is also regarded as the land of the (Y)Rephaim, because the Rephaim previously lived in it, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummin, 21 a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim; but the Lord destroyed them before [m]them. And they dispossessed them and settled in their place, 22 just as He did for the sons of Esau, who (Z)live in Seir, when He destroyed (AA)the Horites from before them; they dispossessed them and settled in their place, where they remain even to this day. 23 And as for the (AB)Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the [n](AC)Caphtorim, who came from [o](AD)Caphtor, destroyed them and lived in their place.) 24 ‘Arise, set out, and pass through the [p](AE)Valley of Arnon. Look! I have handed over to you Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; start taking possession and plunge into battle with him. 25 This day I will begin to put (AF)the dread and fear of you upon the faces of [q]people everywhere, [r]who, when they hear the news of you, (AG)will tremble and be in anguish because of you.’
26 “(AH)So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, 27 ‘Let me pass through your land; I will [s]travel only on the road. I will not turn aside to the right or to the left. 28 You will sell me food for money so that I may eat, and give me water for money so that I may drink, (AI)only let me pass through on [t]foot, 29 just as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in (AJ)Ar did for me, until I cross over the Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is giving us.’ 30 But (AK)Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass [u]through his land; for the (AL)Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to hand him over to you, as he is today. 31 And the Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to turn Sihon and his land over [v]to you. Begin taking possession, so that you may possess his land.’
32 “Then Sihon came out [w]with all his people to meet us in battle at Jahaz. 33 And (AM)the Lord our God turned him over [x]to us, and we [y](AN)defeated him with his sons and all his people. 34 So we captured all his cities at that time and [z](AO)utterly destroyed [aa]the men, women, and children of every city. We left no survivor. 35 We took (AP)only the animals as our plunder, and the spoils of the cities which we had captured. 36 From (AQ)Aroer which is on the edge of the [ab]Valley of Arnon and from the city which is in the [ac]valley, even to Gilead, there was no city that was too [ad]high for us; the Lord our God turned it all over [ae]to us. 37 (AR)Only you did not go near the land of the sons of Ammon, all along the [af]river (AS)Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, and wherever the Lord our God had commanded us to avoid.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 2:1 Lit Sea of Reeds
- Deuteronomy 2:5 Or engage in strife with
- Deuteronomy 2:5 Lit treading of a sole of a foot
- Deuteronomy 2:7 Lit the work of your hand
- Deuteronomy 2:7 Lit going
- Deuteronomy 2:9 Lit his
- Deuteronomy 2:12 I.e., the sons of Esau
- Deuteronomy 2:12 Lit his
- Deuteronomy 2:13 I.e., dry stream bed, except in the rainy season
- Deuteronomy 2:13 I.e., dry stream bed, except in the rainy season
- Deuteronomy 2:14 Lit days in which we went
- Deuteronomy 2:14 See note v 13
- Deuteronomy 2:21 I.e., the Ammonites
- Deuteronomy 2:23 I.e., Philistines
- Deuteronomy 2:23 I.e., Crete
- Deuteronomy 2:24 Or wadi
- Deuteronomy 2:25 Lit peoples under all the heavens
- Deuteronomy 2:25 Lit who will hear...and tremble
- Deuteronomy 2:27 Lit go on the road, on the road
- Deuteronomy 2:28 Lit my feet
- Deuteronomy 2:30 Lit by him
- Deuteronomy 2:31 Lit before you
- Deuteronomy 2:32 Lit he and
- Deuteronomy 2:33 Lit before us
- Deuteronomy 2:33 Lit struck
- Deuteronomy 2:34 Or put under the ban
- Deuteronomy 2:34 Lit every city of men...
- Deuteronomy 2:36 Or wadi
- Deuteronomy 2:36 Or wadi
- Deuteronomy 2:36 Or strong
- Deuteronomy 2:36 Lit before us
- Deuteronomy 2:37 Or wadi
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)
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
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.