Deuteronomy 2
1 Then we turned back and headed for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea, as the LORD had instructed me, and for many days we wandered around Mount Seir.
“Then we turned around and went through the desert toward the (Red Sea/Gulf of Aqaba), as Yahweh told us to do, and we wandered in the Edom area for many years.
2 At this time the LORD said to me,
Then Yahweh said to me,
3 “You have been wandering around this hill country long enough; turn to the north
‘You have been wandering around this hilly area for a long enough time. Now turn [and travel] toward the north.
4 and command the people: ‘You will pass through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so you must be very careful.
And tell the people that they are about to travel near the land that belongs to the descendants of Esau, who are also descendants of Isaac. They live in the [hilly] Edom region. They will be afraid of you,
5 Do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even a footprint, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as his possession.
but do not start to fight against them, because I am not going to give you even a tiny bit [HYP] of their land. I have given that land to the descendants of Esau.
6 You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’”
[When you travel near their land], buy food and water from them.’
7 Indeed, the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. The LORD your God has been with you these forty years, and you have lacked nothing.
Do not forget that Yahweh our God has blessed you in everything that you [SYN] have done. He knows [what has happened to you while] you have wandered in this huge desert. But he has been with you during those 40 years, and as a result you have had everything that you needed [LIT].
8 So we passed by our brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned away from the Arabah road, which comes up from Elath and Ezion-geber, and traveled along the road of the Wilderness of Moab.
So we continued to travel. We avoided going through the hilly area where the descendants of Esau live. We stayed away from the road through the Jordan [River] Valley past Ezion-Geber and Elath [towns], and we turned and traveled northeast toward the desert area where the Moab people-group lives.
9 Then the LORD said to me, “Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as their possession.”
Yahweh said to me, ‘Do not bother/harass the people of Moab, and do not start to fight against them, because I am not going to give you any of their land. [Do not forget that] they are descendants of [Abraham’s nephew] Lot, and I have given to them Ar [city, their capital, and the other areas in that country].’”
10 (The Emites used to live there, a people great and many, as tall as the Anakites.
A large group of giants called Emim formerly lived there. They were strong and numerous, and as tall as the giants who were descendants of Anak.
11 Like the Anakites, they were also regarded as Rephaim, though the Moabites called them Emites.
They and the descendants of Anak are also called the Repha giants, but the people of Moab call them Emim.
12 The Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land that the LORD gave them as their possession.)
The Hor people-group also formerly lived in the Edom area, but the descendants of Esau chased them out. They defeated and killed them and (settled in/occupied) their land, just as the Israeli people later expelled their enemies from the land that Yahweh gave to them.
13 “Now arise and cross over the Brook of Zered.” So we crossed over the Brook of Zered.
[I also said to the Israeli people], “Then we crossed the Zered Gorge, as Yahweh told us to do.
14 The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the Brook of Zered was thirty-eight years, until that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.
It had been thirty-eight years from the time we first left Kadesh-Barnea until we crossed the Zered Gorge. During those years, all the Israeli (fighting men/soldiers) of that generation had died, as Yahweh had vowed would happen.
15 Indeed, the LORD’s hand was against them, to eliminate them from the camp, until they had all perished.
They died because Yahweh opposed them, until he had gotten rid of all of them.
16 Now when all the fighting men among the people had died,
After all the men who had been old enough to fight in wars had died [DOU],
17 the LORD said to me,
Yahweh said to me,
18 “Today you are going to cross the border of Moab at Ar.
‘Today you all must cross the border into the Moab region, near Ar, [their capital city].
19 But when you get close to the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the Ammonites. I have given it to the descendants of Lot as their possession.”
When you come near the border of the land where the Ammon people-group live, do not bother/harass them or start to fight against them. They are also descendants of Lot, so I am not going to give you any of the land that I have given to them.’”
20 (That too was regarded as the land of the Rephaim, who used to live there, though the Ammonites called them Zamzummites.
That region is also called the land of the Repha giants, who formerly lived there. The Ammon people-group call them the Zamzum group.
21 They were a people great and many, as tall as the Anakites. But the LORD destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place,
They were a large and powerful group, who were as tall as the descendants of Anak. But Yahweh got rid of them, and the Ammon people-group expelled them and took their land away from them and started to live there.
22 just as He had done for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them. They drove them out and have lived in their place to this day.
Yahweh had done the same thing for the descendants of Esau who live in the hilly area of Edom. He got rid of the Hor people-group, with the result that the Edom people-group took their land from them and started to live there. They still live there.
23 And the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, were destroyed by the Caphtorites, who came out of Caphtor and settled in their place.)
People who came from Crete [Island] got rid of the Av group [who previously lived in the land close to the Mediterranean Sea], as far south as Gaza. They took their land from them and started to live there.
24 “Arise, set out, and cross the Arnon Valley. See, I have delivered into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle.
“[After we had gone through the Moab region], Yahweh said to us, ‘Now cross the Arnon [River]. I will help you to defeat [IDM] [the army of] Sihon, the king of the Amor people-group, who lives in Heshbon [city]. So attack their army and start to take their land from them.
25 This very day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon all the nations under heaven. They will hear the reports of you and tremble in anguish because of you.”
Today I will begin to cause everyone, everywhere, to be afraid of you. Everyone who hears about you will tremble and be terrified.’
26 So from the Wilderness of Kedemoth I sent messengers with an offer of peace to Sihon king of Heshbon, saying,
Then I sent messengers to go from the desert to King Sihon at Heshbon. I told them to give this peaceful message to the king:
27 “Let us pass through your land; we will stay on the main road. We will not turn to the right or to the left.
‘Please allow us to travel through your land. We [promise that we] will stay on the road; we will not turn off to the right or to the left.
28 You can sell us food to eat and water to drink in exchange for silver. Only let us pass through on foot,
We will pay for any food or water that you allow us to buy. We want only to walk through your country,
29 just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for us, until we cross the Jordan into the land that the LORD our God is giving us.”
until we cross the Jordan [River] into the land that Yahweh our God is giving to us. Do for us just as the descendants of Esau who live in the Edom area and the Moab people-group did for us when they allowed us to go through their areas.’
30 But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through, for the LORD your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate, that He might deliver him into your hand, as is the case this day.
But King Sihon would not allow us to go through his country. That was because Yahweh our God caused him to be stubborn [IDM]. The result was that Yahweh enabled us to defeat his army and take his land [IDM], which we still live in.
31 Then the LORD said to me, “See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his land over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land.”
Yahweh said to me, ‘Listen! I am about to allow you to defeat Sihon’s [army] and to take the people’s land from them. So start to occupy it!’
32 So Sihon and his whole army came out for battle against us at Jahaz.
Then Sihon came out [of the city] with all his army to fight against us at Jahaz [town].
33 And the LORD our God delivered him over to us, and we defeated him and his sons and his whole army.
But God enabled us to defeat [DOU] them, and we killed Sihon and his sons and all his soldiers.
34 At that time we captured all his cities and devoted to destruction the people of every city, including women and children. We left no survivors.
We captured all their cities and destroyed them all. We killed all the men and women and children; we did not allow any of them to remain alive.
35 We carried off for ourselves only the livestock and the plunder from the cities we captured.
We took the valuable things that were in the cities that we captured and also their cattle.
36 From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the valley, even as far as Gilead, not one city had walls too high for us. The LORD our God gave us all of them.
Yahweh our God enabled us to capture [IDM] all their towns from Aroer [in the south], which is at the edge of the Arnon River [Valley], to the Gilead [region in the north]. Some of their cities had [walls around them], but we were able to [climb over them].
37 But you did not go near the land of the Ammonites, or the land along the banks of the Jabbok River, or the cities of the hill country, or any place that the LORD our God had forbidden.
But we did not go near the area where the Ammon people-group live, or the banks of the Jabbok riverbed, or the towns in the hilly area, or any other place where Yahweh our God told us not to go.”
