The Desert Years

2 “Then we turned and ^(A)journeyed into the wilderness of the Way of the Red Sea, ^(B)as the Lord spoke to me, and we ^[a]skirted Mount Seir for many days.

² “And the Lord spoke to me, saying: ³ ‘You have skirted this mountain ^(C)long enough; turn northward. ⁴ And command the people, saying, ^(D)“You are about to pass through the territory of ^(E)your brethren, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. Therefore watch yourselves carefully. ⁵ Do not meddle with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as one footstep, ^(F)because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. ⁶ You shall buy food from them with money, that you may eat; and you shall also buy water from them with money, that you may drink.

⁷ “For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your ^[b]trudging through this great wilderness. ^(G)These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.” ’

⁸ “And when we passed beyond our brethren, the descendants of Esau who dwell in Seir, away from the road of the plain, away from ^(H)Elath and Ezion Geber, we ^(I)turned and passed by way of the Wilderness of Moab. ⁹ Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab, nor contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given ^(J)Ar to ^(K)the descendants of Lot as a possession.’ ”

^10 (L)(The Emim had dwelt there in times past, a people as great and numerous and tall as ^(M)the Anakim. ¹¹ They were also regarded as ^[c]giants, like the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim. ^12 (N)The Horites formerly dwelt in Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their ^[d]place, just as Israel did to the land of their possession which the Lord gave them.)

¹³ “ ‘Now rise and cross over ^(O)the ^[e]Valley of the Zered.’ So we crossed over the Valley of the Zered. ¹⁴ And the time we took to come ^(P)from Kadesh Barnea until we crossed over the Valley of the Zered was thirty-eight years, ^(Q)until all the generation of the men of war ^[f]was consumed from the midst of the camp, ^(R)just as the Lord had sworn to them. ¹⁵ For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from the midst of the camp until they ^[g]were consumed.