Deuteronomy 2:1–8

Wanderings in the Wilderness

¹“^aThen we turned and set out for the wilderness by the way to the ¹Red Sea, as Yahweh spoke to me, and circled ^bMount Seir for many days.

²“And Yahweh spoke to me, saying,

³‘You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north,

^4aand command the people, saying, “You are going to pass through the ^bterritory of your brothers the sons of Esau who live in Seir; and ^cthey will be afraid of you. So be very careful;

⁵do not ¹provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, even as little as a ²footstep ^abecause 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 bargain with them for water with money so that you may drink.

⁷“For Yahweh your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand; He has known your ¹wanderings through this ^agreat wilderness. These ^bforty years Yahweh 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 ^aArabah road, away from Elath and ^bfrom Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed through by the way of the wilderness of Moab.