Deuteronomy 2:1–8

The Desert Years

2“Then we turned and ^ajourneyed into the wilderness of the Way of the Red Sea, ^bas the Lord spoke to me, and we ¹skirted Mount Seir for many days.

²“And the Lord spoke to me, saying: ³‘You have skirted this mountain ^clong enough; turn northward. ⁴And command the people, saying, ^d“You are about to pass through the territory of ^eyour brethren, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. Therefore watch yourselves carefully. ⁵Do not meddle with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as one footstep, ^fbecause I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. ⁶You shall buy food from them with money, that you may eat; and you shall also buy water from them with money, that you may drink.

⁷“For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your ²trudging through this great wilderness. ^gThese forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.” ’

⁸“And when we passed beyond our brethren, the descendants of Esau who dwell in Seir, away from the road of the plain, away from ^hElath and Ezion Geber, we ⁱturned and passed by way of the Wilderness of Moab.