Deuteronomy 2:1-15

New American Standard Bible 1995

Wanderings in the Wilderness

2 “^(A)Then we turned and set out for the wilderness by the way to the ^[a]Red Sea, as the Lord spoke to me, and circled ^(B)Mount Seir for many days. ² And the Lord spoke to me, saying, ³ ‘You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north, ^4 (C)and command the people, saying, “You will 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 purchase water from them with money so that you may drink. ⁷ For the Lord your God has blessed you in all ^[d]that you have done; He has known your ^[e]wanderings through this ^(G)great wilderness. These ^(H)forty years the Lord 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 the Lord said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab, nor provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of ^[f]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)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 did to the land of ^[g]their possession which the Lord gave to them.) ¹³ ‘Now arise and cross over the ^[h]brook Zered yourselves.’ So we crossed over the ^[i]brook Zered. ¹⁴ Now the ^[j]time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the ^[k]brook Zered was ^(Q)thirty-eight years, until ^(R)all the generation of the men of war perished from within the camp, as ^(S)the Lord had sworn to them. ^15 (T)Moreover the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from within the camp until they all perished.