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Deuteronomy 2
New Living Translation

Remembering Israel’s Wanderings

2 “Then we turned around and headed back across the wilderness toward the Red Sea,[a] just as the Lord had instructed me, and we wandered around in the region of Mount Seir for a long time.

2 “Then at last the Lord said to me, 3 ‘You have been wandering around in this hill country long enough; turn to the north. 4 Give these orders to the people: “You will pass through the country belonging to your relatives the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. The Edomites will feel threatened, so be careful. 5 Do not bother them, for I have given them all the hill country around Mount Seir as their property, and I will not give you even one square foot of their land. 6 If you need food to eat or water to drink, pay them for it. 7 For the Lord your God has blessed you in everything you have done. He has watched your every step through this great wilderness. During these forty years, the Lord your God has been with you, and you have lacked nothing.”’

8 “So we bypassed the territory of our relatives, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We avoided the road through the Arabah Valley that comes up from Elath and Ezion-geber.

“Then as we turned north along the desert route through Moab, 9 the Lord warned us, ‘Do not bother the Moabites, the descendants of Lot, or start a war with them. I have given them Ar as their property, and I will not give you any of their land.’”

10 (A race of giants called the Emites had once lived in the area of Ar. They were as strong and numerous and tall as the Anakites, another race of giants. 11 Both the Emites and the Anakites are also known as the Rephaites, though the Moabites call them Emites. 12 In earlier times the Horites had lived in Seir, but they were driven out and displaced by the descendants of Esau, just as Israel drove out the people of Canaan when the Lord gave Israel their land.)

13 Moses continued, “Then the Lord said to us, ‘Get moving. Cross the Zered Brook.’ So we crossed the brook.

14 “Thirty-eight years passed from the time we first left Kadesh-barnea until we finally crossed the Zered Brook! By then, all the men old enough to fight in battle had died in the wilderness, as the Lord had vowed would happen. 15 The Lord struck them down until they had all been eliminated from the community.

16 “When all the men of fighting age had died, 17 the Lord said to me, 18 ‘Today you will cross the border of Moab at Ar 19 and enter the land of the Ammonites, the descendants of Lot. But do not bother them or start a war with them. I have given the land of Ammon to them as their property, and I will not give you any of their land.’”

20 (That area was once considered the land of the Rephaites, who had lived there, though the Ammonites call them Zamzummites. 21 They were also as strong and numerous and tall as the Anakites. But the Lord destroyed them so the Ammonites could occupy their land. 22 He had done the same for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir, for he destroyed the Horites so they could settle there in their place. The descendants of Esau live there to this day. 23 A similar thing happened when the Caphtorites from Crete[b] invaded and destroyed the Avvites, who had lived in villages in the area of Gaza.)

24 Moses continued, “Then the Lord said, ‘Now get moving! Cross the Arnon Gorge. Look, I will hand over to you Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and I will give you his land. Attack him and begin to occupy the land. 25 Beginning today I will make people throughout the earth terrified because of you. When they hear reports about you, they will tremble with dread and fear.’”

Victory over Sihon of Heshbon

26 Moses continued, “From the wilderness of Kedemoth I sent ambassadors to King Sihon of Heshbon with this proposal of peace:

27 ‘Let us travel through your land. We will stay on the main road and won’t turn off into the fields on either side. 28 Sell us food to eat and water to drink, and we will pay for it. All we want is permission to pass through your land. 29 The descendants of Esau who live in Seir allowed us to go through their country, and so did the Moabites, who live in Ar. Let us pass through until we cross the Jordan into the land the Lord our God is giving us.’

30 “But King Sihon of Heshbon refused to allow us to pass through, because the Lord your God made Sihon stubborn and defiant so he could help you defeat him, as he has now done.

31 “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Look, I have begun to hand King Sihon and his land over to you. Begin now to conquer and occupy his land.’

32 “Then King Sihon declared war on us and mobilized his forces at Jahaz. 33 But the Lord our God handed him over to us, and we crushed him, his sons, and all his people. 34 We conquered all his towns and completely destroyed[c] everyone—men, women, and children. Not a single person was spared. 35 We took all the livestock as plunder for ourselves, along with anything of value from the towns we ransacked.

36 “The Lord our God also helped us conquer Aroer on the edge of the Arnon Gorge, and the town in the gorge, and the whole area as far as Gilead. No town had walls too strong for us. 37 However, we avoided the land of the Ammonites all along the Jabbok River and the towns in the hill country—all the places the Lord our God had commanded us to leave alone.

Footnotes

  1. 2:1 Hebrew sea of reeds.
  2. 2:23 Hebrew from Caphtor.
  3. 2:34 The Hebrew term used here refers to the complete consecration of things or people to the Lord, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering.
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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

  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
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