¹⁸ Then they journeyed through the wilderness, went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab, arrived on the east side of the land of Moab, and camped on the other side of the Arnon. They did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the boundary of Moab.^(A)

2 ¹ “we journeyed back into the wilderness, in the direction of the Red Sea,^[a] as the Lord had told me, and skirted Mount Seir for many days.^{(A) 2} Then the Lord said to me, ³ ‘You have been skirting this hill country long enough. Head north, ⁴ and charge the people as follows: “You are about to pass through the territory of your kindred, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so be very careful^{(B) 5} not to engage in battle with them, for I will not give you even so much as a foot’s length of their land, since I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.^{(C) 6} You shall purchase food from them for money, so that you may eat, and you shall also buy water from them for money, so that you may drink. ⁷ Surely the Lord your God has blessed you in all your undertakings; he knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.” ’^{(D) 8} So we passed by our kin, the descendants of Esau who live in Seir, leaving behind the route of the Arabah and leaving behind Elath and Ezion-geber.

“When we had headed out along the route of the wilderness of Moab,^(E)

³⁶ When Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him at Ir-moab, on the boundary formed by the Arnon, at the farthest point of the boundary.

³⁷ They set out from Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor, on the edge of the land of Edom.^(A)

³⁸ Aaron the priest went up Mount Hor at the command of the Lord and died there in the fortieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, on the first day of the fifth month.^{(B) 39} Aaron was one hundred twenty-three years old when he died on Mount Hor.

⁴⁰ The Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the Israelites.^(C)

⁴¹ They set out from Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah. ⁴² They set out from Zalmonah and camped at Punon. ⁴³ They set out from Punon and camped at Oboth.^{(D) 44} They set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the territory of Moab.^(E)