Wanderings in the Wilderness

2 “^(A)Then we turned and set out for the wilderness by the way to the ^[a]Red Sea, as Yahweh spoke to me, and circled ^(B)Mount Seir for many days. ² And Yahweh 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, even as little as a ^[c]footstep ^(F)because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. ⁶ You shall buy food from them with money so that you may eat, and you shall also bargain with them for water with money so that you may drink. ⁷ For Yahweh your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand; He has known your ^[d]wanderings through this ^(G)great wilderness. These ^(H)forty years Yahweh your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing.”’

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)from Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed through by the way of the wilderness of Moab. ⁹ Then Yahweh said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab, nor provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of ^[e]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 formerly, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim. ¹¹ Like the Anakim, they are also regarded as ^(N)Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim. ^12 (O)Now the Horites formerly lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them and settled in their place, ^(P)just as Israel would do to the land of ^[f]their possession which Yahweh gave to them.) ¹³ ‘Now arise and cross over the ^[g]brook Zered yourselves.’ So we crossed over the ^[h]brook Zered. ¹⁴ Now the ^[i]time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the ^[j]brook Zered was ^(Q)thirty-eight years, until ^(R)all the generation of the men of war came to an end from within the camp, as ^(S)Yahweh had sworn to them. ^15 (T)Moreover the hand of Yahweh was against them, to bring them into confusion from within the camp until they all came to an end.