Chapter 2

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.)

24 ‘Arise, set out, and pass through the 1avalley of Arnon. Look! I have given Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land into your hand; begin to take possession and contend with him in battle.

25 ‘This day I will begin to put athe dread and fear of you 1upon the peoples 2everywhere under the heavens, who, when they hear the report of you, bwill tremble and be in anguish because of you.’

26 “aSo I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,

27 ‘Let me pass through your land, I will 1travel only on the highway; I will not turn aside to the right or to the left.

28 ‘You will sell me food for money so that I may eat, and give me water for money so that I may drink, aonly let me pass through on 1foot,

29 just as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in aAr did for me, until I cross over the Jordan into the land which the Lord our God is giving to us.’

30 “But aSihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass 1through his land; for the bLord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to deliver him into your hand, as he is today.

31 “The Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his land 1over to you. Begin to 2occupy, that you may possess his land.’

32 “Then Sihon 1with all his people came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz.

33 “aThe Lord our God delivered him 1over to us, and we 2bdefeated him with his sons and all his people.

34 “So we captured all his cities at that time and 1autterly destroyed 2the men, women and children of every city. We left no survivor.

35 “We took aonly the animals as our booty and the spoil of the cities which we had captured.

36 “From aAroer which is on the edge of the 1valley of Arnon and from the city which is in the 1valley, even to Gilead, there was no city that was too high for us; the Lord our God delivered all 2over to us.

37 “aOnly you did not go near to the land of the sons of Ammon, all along the 1river bJabbok and the cities of the hill country, and wherever the Lord our God had commanded us.