Wanderings in the Wilderness

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

2 “And the Lord spoke to me, saying,

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

4 aand command the people, saying, “You will 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;

5 do 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 purchase water from them with money so that you may drink.

7 “For the Lord your God has blessed you in all 1that you have done; He has known your 2wanderings through this agreat wilderness. These bforty years the Lord 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.

9 “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab, nor provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of 1their land as a possession, because I have given aAr to bthe sons of Lot as a possession.

10 (The aEmim lived there formerly, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim.

11 Like the Anakim, they are also regarded as aRephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim.

12 aThe Horites formerly lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them and settled in their place, bjust as Israel did to the land of 1their possession which the Lord gave to them.)

13 ‘Now arise and cross over the 1brook Zered yourselves.’ So we crossed over the 1brook Zered.

14 “Now the 1time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the 2brook Zered was athirty-eight years, until ball the generation of the men of war perished from within the camp, as cthe Lord had sworn to them.

15 “aMoreover the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from within the camp until they all perished.

16 “So it came about when aall the men of war had finally perished from among the people,

17 that the Lord spoke to me, saying,

18 ‘Today you shall cross over aAr, the border of Moab.

19 ‘When you come opposite the asons of Ammon, do not harass them nor provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to bthe sons of Lot as a possession.’

20 (It is also regarded as the land of the aRephaim, for Rephaim formerly lived in it, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummin,

21 a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim, but the Lord destroyed them before them. And they dispossessed them and settled in their place,

22 just as He did for the sons of Esau, who alive in Seir, when He destroyed bthe Horites from before them; they dispossessed them and settled in their place even to this day.

23 And the aAvvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the 1bCaphtorim who came from 2cCaphtor, destroyed them and lived in their place.)