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The Journey from Kadesh Barnea to Moab

Then we turned and set out toward the wilderness on the way to the Red Sea[a] just as the Lord told me to do, detouring around Mount Seir for a long time. At this point the Lord said to me, “You have circled around this mountain long enough; now turn north. Instruct[b] these people as follows: ‘You are about to cross the border of your relatives[c] the descendants of Esau,[d] who inhabit Seir. They will be afraid of you, so watch yourselves carefully. Do not be hostile toward them, because I am not giving you any of their land, not even a footprint, for I have given Mount Seir[e] as an inheritance for Esau. You may purchase[f] food to eat and water to drink from them. All along the way I, the Lord your God,[g] have blessed your every effort.[h] I have[i] been attentive to[j] your travels through this great wilderness. These forty years I have[k] been with you; you have lacked nothing.’”

So we turned away from our relatives[l] the descendants of Esau, the inhabitants of Seir, turning from the route of the rift valley[m] which comes up from[n] Elat[o] and Ezion Geber,[p] and traveling the way of the wilderness of Moab. Then the Lord said to me, “Do not harass Moab and provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as your territory. This is because I have given Ar[q] to the descendants of Lot[r] as their possession. 10 (The Emites[s] used to live there, a people as powerful, numerous, and tall as the Anakites. 11 These people, as well as the Anakites, are also considered Rephaites;[t] the Moabites call them Emites. 12 Previously the Horites[u] lived in Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed and destroyed them and settled in their place, just as Israel did to the land it came to possess, the land the Lord gave them.)[v] 13 Now, get up and cross the Wadi Zered.”[w] So we did so.[x] 14 Now the length of time it took for us to go from Kadesh Barnea to the crossing of Wadi Zered was thirty-eight years, time for all the military men of that generation to die, just as the Lord had vowed to them. 15 Indeed, it was the very hand of the Lord that eliminated them from within[y] the camp until they were all gone.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 2:1 tn Heb “Reed Sea.” See note on the term “Red Sea” in Deut 1:40.
  2. Deuteronomy 2:4 tn Heb “command” (so KJV, NASB); NRSV “charge the people as follows.”
  3. Deuteronomy 2:4 tn Heb “brothers”; NAB “your kinsmen.”
  4. Deuteronomy 2:4 sn The descendants of Esau (Heb “sons of Esau”; the phrase also occurs in 2:8, 12, 22, 29). These are the inhabitants of the land otherwise known as Edom, south and east of the Dead Sea. Jacob’s brother Esau had settled there after his bitter strife with Jacob (Gen 36:1-8). “Edom” means “reddish,” probably because of the red sandstone of the region, but also by popular etymology because Esau, at birth, was reddish (Gen 25:25).
  5. Deuteronomy 2:5 sn Mount Seir is synonymous with Edom.
  6. Deuteronomy 2:6 tn Heb includes “with silver.”
  7. Deuteronomy 2:7 tn The Hebrew text does not have the first person pronoun; it has been supplied for purposes of English style (the Lord is speaking here).
  8. Deuteronomy 2:7 tn Heb “all the work of your hands.”
  9. Deuteronomy 2:7 tn Heb “he has.” This has been converted to first person in the translation in keeping with English style.
  10. Deuteronomy 2:7 tn Heb “known” (so ASV, NASB); NAB “been concerned about.”
  11. Deuteronomy 2:7 tn Heb “the Lord your God has.” This has been replaced in the translation by the first person pronoun (“I”) in keeping with English style.
  12. Deuteronomy 2:8 tn Or “brothers”; NRSV “our kin.”
  13. Deuteronomy 2:8 sn As a geographic feature the rift valley (עֲרָבָה, ʿaravah) extends from the Gulf of Aqaba to Galilee. Traveling up the middle of the rift valley probably would have been the easiest path, at least up to the Dead Sea.
  14. Deuteronomy 2:8 tn Heb “from.”
  15. Deuteronomy 2:8 sn Elat was a port city at the head of the eastern arm of the Red Sea, that is, the Gulf of Aqaba (or Gulf of Eilat). Solomon (1 Kgs 9:28), Uzziah (2 Kgs 14:22), and Ahaz (2 Kgs 16:5-6) used it as a port but eventually it became permanently part of Edom. It may be what is known today as Tell el-Kheleifeh. Modern Eilat is located farther west along the northern coast. See G. Pratico, “Nelson Glueck’s 1938-1940 Excavations at Tell el-Kheleifeh: A Reappraisal,” BASOR 259 (1985): 1-32.
  16. Deuteronomy 2:8 sn Ezion Geber. A place near the Gulf of Aqaba, Ezion-geber must be distinguished from Elat (cf. 1 Kgs 9:26-28; 2 Chr 8:17-18). It was, however, also a port city (1 Kgs 22:48-49). It may be the same as the modern site Gezirat al-Fauran, 15 mi (24 km) south-southwest from Tell el-Kheleifah.
  17. Deuteronomy 2:9 sn Ar was a Moabite city on the Arnon River east of the Dead Sea. It is mentioned elsewhere in the “Book of the Wars of Yahweh” (Num 21:15; cf. 21:28; Isa 15:1). Here it is synonymous with the whole land of Moab.
  18. Deuteronomy 2:9 sn The descendants of Lot. Following the destruction of the cities of the plain, Sodom and Gomorrah, as God’s judgment, Lot fathered two sons by his two daughters, namely, Moab and Ammon (Gen 19:30-38). Thus, these descendants of Lot in and around Ar were the Moabites.
  19. Deuteronomy 2:10 sn Emites. These giant people, like the Anakites (Deut 1:28), were also known as Rephaites (v. 11). They appear elsewhere in the narrative of the invasion of the kings of the east where they are said to have lived around Shaveh Kiriathaim, perhaps 9 to 11 mi (15 to 18 km) east of the north end of the Dead Sea (Gen 14:5).
  20. Deuteronomy 2:11 sn Rephaites. The earliest reference to this infamous giant race is, again, in the story of the invasion of the eastern kings (Gen 14:5). They lived around Ashteroth Karnaim, probably modern Tel Ashtarah (cf. Deut 1:4), in the Bashan plateau east of the Sea of Galilee. Og, king of Bashan, was a Rephaite (Deut 3:11; Josh 12:4; 13:12). Other texts speak of them or their kinfolk in both Transjordan (Deut 2:20; 3:13) and Canaan (Josh 11:21-22; 14:12, 15; 15:13-14; Judg 1:20; 1 Sam 17:4; 1 Chr 20:4-8). They also appear in extra-biblical literature, especially in connection with the city state of Ugarit. See C. L’Heureux, “Ugaritic and Biblical Rephaim,” HTR 67 (1974): 265-74.
  21. Deuteronomy 2:12 sn Horites. Most likely these are the same as the well-known people of ancient Near Eastern texts described as Hurrians. They were geographically widespread and probably non-Semitic. Genesis speaks of them as the indigenous peoples of Edom that Esau expelled (Gen 36:8-19, 31-43) and also as among those who confronted the kings of the east (Gen 14:6).
  22. Deuteronomy 2:12 tn Most modern English versions, beginning with the ASV (1901), regard vv. 10-12 as parenthetical to the narrative.
  23. Deuteronomy 2:13 sn Wadi Zered. Now known as Wadi el-Ḥesa, this valley marked the boundary between Moab to the north and Edom to the south.
  24. Deuteronomy 2:13 tn Heb “we crossed the Wadi Zered.” This has been translated as “we did so” for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.
  25. Deuteronomy 2:15 tn Heb “from the middle of.” Although many recent English versions leave this expression untranslated, the point seems to be that these soldiers did not die in battle but “within the camp.”

Wanderings in the Wilderness

(A)Then we turned and set out for the wilderness by the way of the [a]Red Sea, as the Lord spoke to me, and we circled (B)Mount Seir for many days. And the Lord spoke to me, saying, ‘You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north, (C)and command the people, saying, “You are going to 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; do not [b]provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even as much as a [c]footprint, (F)because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. You are to 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. For the Lord your God has blessed you in all [d]that you have done; He has known your [e]wandering through this (G)great wilderness. These (H)forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have not lacked anything.”’

“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)Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed through by the way of the wilderness of Moab. Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not attack 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 previously, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim. 11 Like the Anakim, they too are regarded as (N)Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim. 12 (O)The Horites previously lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before [g]them, and settled in their place; (P)just as Israel did to the land of [h]their possession which the Lord gave them.) 13 ‘Now arise and cross over the [i]Wadi Zered yourselves.’ So we crossed over the [j]Wadi Zered. 14 Now the [k]time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the [l]Wadi Zered was (Q)thirty-eight years, until (R)all the generation of the men of war perished from within the camp, just as (S)the Lord had sworn to them. 15 (T)Indeed, the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from within the camp until they all perished.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 2:1 Lit Sea of Reeds
  2. Deuteronomy 2:5 Or engage in strife with
  3. Deuteronomy 2:5 Lit treading of a sole of a foot
  4. Deuteronomy 2:7 Lit the work of your hand
  5. Deuteronomy 2:7 Lit going
  6. Deuteronomy 2:9 Lit his
  7. Deuteronomy 2:12 I.e., the sons of Esau
  8. Deuteronomy 2:12 Lit his
  9. Deuteronomy 2:13 I.e., dry stream bed, except in the rainy season
  10. Deuteronomy 2:13 I.e., dry stream bed, except in the rainy season
  11. Deuteronomy 2:14 Lit days in which we went
  12. Deuteronomy 2:14 See note v 13