“The nation of Israel is your brother. They say, ‘You know about all of the hard times we’ve had. ¹⁵Long ago our people went down into Egypt. We lived there for many years. The Egyptians treated us and our people badly. ¹⁶But we cried out to the Lord. He heard our cry. He sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt.

“ ‘Now here we are at the town of Kadesh. It’s on the edge of your territory. ¹⁷Please let us pass through your country. We won’t go through any field or vineyard. We won’t drink water from any well. We’ll travel along the king’s highway. We won’t turn to the right or the left. We’ll just go straight through your territory.’ ”

¹⁸But the people of Edom answered,

“You can’t pass through here. If you try to, we’ll march out against you. We’ll attack you with our swords.”

¹⁹The people of Israel replied,

“We’ll go along the main road. We and our livestock won’t drink any of your water. If we do, we’ll pay for it. We only want to walk through your country. That’s all we ask.”

²⁰Again the people of Edom answered,

“You can’t pass through here.”

Then the people of Edom came out against them. They came with a large and powerful army. ²¹Edom refused to let Israel go through their territory. So Israel turned away from them.

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