Deuteronomy 2
International Standard Version
Israel Passes through Edomite Territory
2 “We turned and set out for the desert on the road to the Reed[a] Sea, just as the Lord had directed me. We traveled around Mount Seir for many days. 2 Then the Lord told me, 3 ‘You’ve walked around this mountain long enough. Turn northward 4 and command this people, “You are about to pass through the territory of your relatives, the descendants of Esau who live around Seir. They will be afraid of you so be very careful. 5 Don’t fight them, because I won’t give you any part of their land, not even the size of a footprint.[b] I have given Mount Seir to Esau as their property. 6 You may buy food to eat and water to drink from them, paying[c] with cash.”’ 7 Indeed, the Lord your God blessed all the works of your hands. He knows about your travels through this vast desert. The Lord your God was with you these past 40 years, so that you didn’t lack anything. 8 So we bypassed our relatives, the descendants of Esau who live in Seir. We turned through the Arabah desert from Elath, and from Ezion-geber we traveled the desert road to Moab.”
Israel Passes through Moabite Territory
9 “Then the Lord told me, ‘Don’t harass Moab or provoke them to war, because I won’t give you any part of their land. I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as their property. 10 (The Emites, a people as powerful, numerous, and tall as the Anakim,[d] lived there before. 11 Like the Anakim,[e] they were thought of as Rephaim,[f] but the Moabites called them Emites. 12 The Horites used to live in Seir before the descendants of Esau dispossessed them, exterminated them, and settled there instead, just as Israel will do in the land of its possession, which the Lord gave them.) 13 Now get going and cross the Wadi[g] Zered.’ And so we crossed the Wadi[h] Zered. 14 Now from the time we left Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Wadi[i] Zered was 38 years. All of that generation, the soldiers in the camp, were destroyed just as the Lord swore they would be. 15 Indeed, the hand of the Lord was against them to root them out from the camp until they were utterly destroyed.”
Israel Passes through Ammonite Territory
16 “And so all the soldiers among the people died. 17 Then the Lord spoke to me, 18 ‘Today, you are about to cross the border of Moab at Ar. 19 When you come to the Ammonites, don’t harass or provoke them to war, for I won’t give any part of Ammonite land to you, since I have given it to the descendants of Lot as their property.
20 “‘(Indeed, it was considered Rephaim[j] territory, since the Rephaim[k] used to lived there. The Ammonites called them Zamzummites, 21 a great people, numerous, and tall as the Anakim.[l] But the Lord destroyed the Rephaim,[m] so that the Ammonites dispossessed them and settled there instead. 22 This is what he did for the descendants of Esau who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites before them. So they dispossessed them and settled there in their place, where they live[n] to this day. 23 It was the same for the Avvites who lived in villages as far as Gaza. The Caphtorites, who came from Crete,[o] destroyed them and settled there in their place.) 24 Get ready and set out for the Wadi[p] Arnon. Look! I’ve given into your control Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, along with his land. Prepare to take possession by provoking him to war. 25 Starting today I will begin to instill fear and terror of you on the part of every nation under heaven who hears reports about you. They’ll tremble in anguish before you.’”
Israel Defeats Sihon, King of Heshbon
26 “I sent messengers from the desert of Kedemoth to King Sihon of Heshbon with this message of peace: 27 ‘Let me pass through your territory. I’ll stay on the main road. I won’t turn to the right or left. 28 Sell me food for cash,[q] so I can eat and give me water for cash,[r] so I can drink. Just let me pass through on foot, 29 as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir did for me, as did the Moabites who live in Ar. I’ll pass through,[s] until I will have crossed the Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is about to give us.’ 30 But King Sihon of Heshbon did not allow us to pass through, because the Lord your God had hardened his spirit and made him arrogant,[t] in order to deliver him into your control today.
31 “Then the Lord told me, ‘See, I’ve begun to deliver Sihon and his territory over to you. Prepare to take possession of his land.’
32 “Sihon came out to meet us, including his entire army, at the battle of Jahaz. 33 The Lord our God delivered him to us, so we attacked him, his son, and his whole army. 34 We captured all his towns at that time. We utterly destroyed every town—the men, the women, and the children—leaving no survivors. 35 We only appropriated the livestock for our use, along with plunder from the cities that we captured. 36 From Aroer on the edge of Arnon Valley and from the town all the way to Gilead, there was no city that was too strong for us—the Lord our God delivered them all to us. 37 You did not encroach onto Ammonite land, the banks of the Wadi[u] Jabbok, the towns in the hill country, and all the other places that were forbidden[v] by the Lord our God.”
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 2:1 So MT; LXX reads Red
- Deuteronomy 2:5 Lit. the treading of the calf of your foot
- Deuteronomy 2:6 The Heb. lacks paying
- Deuteronomy 2:10 I.e. a race of giants that formerly populated Canaan; cf. Num 13:22, 33; Deut 9:2
- Deuteronomy 2:11 I.e. a race of giants that formerly populated Canaan; cf. Num 13:22, 33; Deut 9:2
- Deuteronomy 2:11 I.e. a race of giants that formerly populated Canaan; cf. Num 13:22, 33
- Deuteronomy 2:13 I.e. a seasonal stream or river that channels water during rain seasons but is dry at other times
- Deuteronomy 2:13 I.e. a seasonal stream or river that channels water during rain seasons but is dry at other times
- Deuteronomy 2:14 I.e. a seasonal stream or river that channels water during rain seasons but is dry at other times
- Deuteronomy 2:20 I.e. a race of giants that formerly populated Canaan
- Deuteronomy 2:20 I.e. a race of giants that formerly populated Canaan
- Deuteronomy 2:21 I.e. a race of giants that formerly populated Canaan; cf. Num 13:22, 33; Deut 9:2
- Deuteronomy 2:21 I.e. a race of giants that formerly populated Canaan
- Deuteronomy 2:22 The Heb. lacks where they live
- Deuteronomy 2:23 Lit. Caphtor
- Deuteronomy 2:24 I.e. a seasonal stream or river that channels water during rain seasons but is dry at other times
- Deuteronomy 2:28 Lit. silver
- Deuteronomy 2:28 Lit. silver
- Deuteronomy 2:29 The Heb. lacks I’ll pass through
- Deuteronomy 2:30 Lit. and emboldened his heart
- Deuteronomy 2:37 I.e. a seasonal stream or river that channels water during rain seasons but is dry at other times
- Deuteronomy 2:37 Lit. commanded
Deuteronomy 2
Living Bible
2 “Then we turned back across the wilderness toward the Red Sea, for so the Lord had instructed me. For many years we wandered around in the area of Mount Seir. 2 Then at last the Lord said, 3 ‘You have stayed here long enough. Turn northward. 4 Inform the people that they will be passing through the country belonging to their brothers the Edomites, the descendants of Esau who live in Seir; the Edomites will be nervous, so be careful. 5 Don’t start a fight! For I have given them all the Mount Seir hill country as their permanent possession, and I will not give you even a tiny piece of their land. 6 Pay them for whatever food or water you use. 7 The Lord your God has watched over you and blessed you every step of the way for all these forty years as you have wandered around in this great wilderness; and you have lacked nothing in all that time.’
8 “So we passed through Edom where our brothers lived, crossing the Arabah Road that goes south to Elath and Ezion-geber, and traveling northward toward the wilderness of Moab.
9 “Then the Lord warned us, ‘Don’t attack the Moabites either, for I will not give you any of their land; I have given it to the descendants of Lot.’
10 “(The Emim used to live in that area, a very large tribe, tall as the giants of Anakim; 11 both the Emim and the Anakim are often referred to as the Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim. 12 In earlier days the Horites lived in Seir, but they were driven out and displaced by the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, just as Israel would displace the peoples of Canaan, whose land had been assigned to Israel by the Lord.)
13 “‘Now cross Zered Brook,’ the Lord said; and we did.
14-15 “So it took us thirty-eight years to finally get across Zered Brook from Kadesh! For the Lord had decreed that this could not happen until all the men, who thirty-eight years earlier were old enough to bear arms, had died. Yes, the hand of the Lord was against them until finally all were dead.
16-17 “Then at last the Lord said to me, 18 ‘Today Israel shall cross the borders of Moab at Ar, 19 into the land of the Ammonites. But do not attack them, for I will not give you any of their land. I have given it to the descendants of Lot.’
20 “(That area, too, used to be inhabited by the Rephaim, called ‘Zamzummim’ by the Ammonites. 21 They were a large and powerful tribe, as tall as the Anakim; but Jehovah destroyed them as the Ammonites came in, and the Ammonites lived there in their place. 22 The Lord had similarly helped the descendants of Esau at Mount Seir, for he destroyed the Horites who were living there before them. 23 Another similar situation occurred when the people of Caphtor invaded and destroyed the tribe of Avvim living in villages scattered across the countryside as far away as Gaza.)
24 “Then the Lord said, ‘Cross the Arnon River into the land of King Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon. War against him and begin to take possession of his land. 25 Beginning today I will make people throughout the whole earth tremble with fear because of you, and dread your arrival.’
26 “Then from the wilderness of Kedemoth I sent ambassadors to King Sihon of Heshbon with a proposal of peace. 27 ‘Let us pass through your land,’ we said. ‘We will stay on the main road and won’t turn off into the fields on either side. 28 We will not steal food as we go, but will purchase every bite we eat and everything we drink; all we want is permission to pass through. 29 The Edomites at Seir allowed us to go through their country, and so did the Moabites, whose capital is at Ar. We are on our way across the Jordan into the land the Lord our God has given us.’
30 “But King Sihon refused because Jehovah your God made him obstinate, so that he could destroy Sihon by the hands of Israel, as has now been done.
31 “Then the Lord said to me, ‘I have begun to give you the land of King Sihon; when you possess it, it shall belong to Israel forever.’
32 “King Sihon then declared war on us and mobilized his forces at Jahaz. 33-34 But the Lord our God crushed him, and we conquered all his cities and utterly destroyed everything, including the women and babies. We left nothing alive 35-36 except the cattle, which we took as our reward, along with the booty gained from ransacking the cities we had taken. We conquered everything from Aroer to Gilead—from the edge of the Arnon River Valley, and including all the cities in the valley. Not one city was too strong for us, for the Lord our God gave all of them to us. 37 However, we stayed away from the people of Ammon and from the Jabbok River and the hill country cities, the places Jehovah our God had forbidden us to enter.
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