¹⁴ Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying:

“Your brother Israel says: You know all the travail that has happened to us; ¹⁵ how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time. The Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers. ¹⁶ When we cried to Yahweh, he heard our voice, sent an angel, and brought us out of Egypt. Behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the edge of your border.

¹⁷ “Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or through vineyard, neither will we drink from the water of the wells. We will go along the king’s highway. We will not turn away to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed your border.”

¹⁸ Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through me, lest I come out with the sword against you.”

¹⁹ The children of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the highway; and if we drink your water, I and my livestock, then I will give its price. Only let me, without doing anything else, pass through on my feet.”

²⁰ He said, “You shall not pass through.” Edom came out against him with many people, and with a strong hand. ²¹ Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border, so Israel turned away from him.