Deuteronomy 2:16-25

Evangelical Heritage Version

The Journey Past Ammon

¹⁶ Just as soon as all those fighting men were eliminated from the people by their death, ¹⁷ the Lord spoke to me: ¹⁸ “Today you are going to cross the border of Moab at Ar. ¹⁹ When you come near the people of Ammon, do not be hostile toward them and do not wage war against them, because I am not going to give any of the land of the people of Ammon to you as a possession, since I have given it to the people of Lot as a possession.”

²⁰ (It also is considered to be the land of the Rephaim. The Rephaim lived in it formerly, but the Ammonites call them Zamzumites. ²¹ They are a strong and numerous people and as tall as the Anakites. But the Lord destroyed the Rephaim from among the Ammonites. The Ammonites took possession of their land and lived there in their place. ²² The Lord had done the same things for the people of Esau, who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites before them, and they took possession of their land and settled there in their place and remain there to this day. ²³ Now the Caphtorites, who came out of Caphtor,^[a] destroyed the Avvites who were living in villages as far as Gaza and settled in their place.)

Confrontation With the Amorites

²⁴ Then the Lord told us:^[b] “Get ready to travel and cross over the Arnon Canyon. See, I have given into your hands Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Start to take possession of it and wage war against him. ²⁵ This very day I will begin to put dread and fear of you on the faces of the people everywhere under heaven, so that they will hear reports about you and they will tremble, and they will be shaking because of you.”