26 “So I sent messengers with an offer of peace(A) to King Sihon of Heshbon from the Wilderness of Kedemoth, saying, 27 ‘Let us travel through your land; we will keep strictly to the highway. We will not turn to the right or the left.(B) 28 You can sell us food in exchange for silver so we may eat, and give us water for silver so we may drink. Only let us travel through on foot, 29 just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir did for us, and the Moabites who live in Ar, until we cross the Jordan into the land the Lord our God is giving us.’ 30 But King Sihon of Heshbon would not let us travel through his land, for the Lord your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to hand him over to you, as has now taken place.(C)

31 “Then the Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land to you. Begin to take possession of it.’ 32 So Sihon and his whole army came out against us for battle at Jahaz. 33 The Lord our God handed him over to us,(D) and we defeated him, his sons, and his whole army. 34 At that time we captured all his cities and completely destroyed the people of every city, including the women and children. We left no survivors.(E) 35 We took only the livestock and the spoil from the cities we captured as plunder for ourselves. 36 There was no city that was inaccessible to[a](F) us, from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the valley, even as far as Gilead.(G) The Lord our God gave everything to us. 37 But you did not go near the Ammonites’ land, all along the bank of the Jabbok River,(H) the cities of the hill country, or any place that the Lord our God had forbidden.(I)

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Footnotes

  1. 2:36 Or was too high for

26 “So I sent messengers from the wilderness[a] of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon; I sent terms of peace, saying,[b] 27 ‘Let me cross through your land and only along the road[c] I will go; I will not turn aside to the right or to the left. 28 Food for money you shall sell me, so that I may eat, and water for money you will give to me, so that I may drink; just let me cross on foot. 29 Just as the descendants[d] of Esau did for me, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, until I cross the Jordan into the land that Yahweh our God is giving to us.’ 30 But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing to let us cross through his territory because Yahweh your God hardened his spirit and made him obstinate[e] in order to give him[f] into your hand, just as he has now done.[g] 31 Yahweh said to me, ‘Look! I have begun to give over to you[h] Sihon and his land; begin to take possession of his land.’[i] 32 Then Sihon and all his people came out to meet us for battle at Jahaz. 33 And so Yahweh our God gave him over to us,[j] and we struck him down, and his sons[k] and all of his people. 34 So we captured all of his cities at that time, and we destroyed each town of males and the women and the children; we did not leave behind a survivor. 35 We took only the livestock as spoil for ourselves,[l] and also the booty of the cities that we had captured. 36 From Aroer, which is on the edge of the wadi[m] of Arnon and the city that was in the wadi[n] on up to Gilead, there was not a city that was inaccessible to us; Yahweh our God gave everything[o] to us.[p] 37 Only the land of the Ammonites[q] you did not approach, all along the whole upper region of the Jabbok River[r] and the towns of the hill country, according to all that Yahweh our God had instructed.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 2:26 Or “desert”
  2. Deuteronomy 2:26 Literally “to say”
  3. Deuteronomy 2:27 Literally “in the road, in the road”
  4. Deuteronomy 2:29 Or “the children/sons of”
  5. Deuteronomy 2:30 Literally “made firm his heart”
  6. Deuteronomy 2:30 Literally “to give him,” indicating purpose
  7. Deuteronomy 2:30 Literally “as it is this day”
  8. Deuteronomy 2:31 Literally “to the face of you”
  9. Deuteronomy 2:31 Literally, “take possession in order to possess his land”
  10. Deuteronomy 2:33 Literally “before us”
  11. Deuteronomy 2:33 Or “descendants”
  12. Deuteronomy 2:35 Hebrew “us”
  13. Deuteronomy 2:36 A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
  14. Deuteronomy 2:36 A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
  15. Deuteronomy 2:36 Literally “the whole”
  16. Deuteronomy 2:36 Literally “before us”
  17. Deuteronomy 2:37 Literally “children/sons of Ammon”
  18. Deuteronomy 2:37 Literally “wadi,” which here refers to a flowing river