Deuteronomy 2

1 “And setting out from there, we arrived at the wilderness which leads to the Red Sea, just as the Lord had spoken to me. And we encompassed Mount Seir for a long time.

“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 And the Lord said to me:

Then Yahweh said to me,

3 ‘You have encompassed this mountain for long enough. Go forth, toward the north.

‘You have been wandering around this hilly area for a long enough time. Now turn [and travel] toward the north.

4 And instruct the people, saying: You shall cross through the borders of your brothers, the sons of Esau, who live at Seir, and they will fear you.

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 Therefore, take care diligently, lest you be moved against them. For I will not give to you from their land even as much as the step that one foot can tread upon, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a 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 shall buy food from them for money, and you shall eat. You shall draw water for money, and you shall drink.

[When you travel near their land], buy food and water from them.’

7 The Lord your God has blessed you in every work of your hands. The Lord your God, dwelling with you, knows your journey, how you crossed through this great wilderness over forty years, and how you have been lacking in 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 And when we had passed through our brothers, the sons of Esau, who were living at Seir by the way of the plain from Elath and from Eziongeber, we arrived at the way which leads to the desert 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 And the Lord said to me: ‘You should not fight against the Moabites, nor should you go to battle against them. For I will not give to you anything from their land, because I have given Ar to the sons of Lot as a 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 Emim were the first of its inhabitants, a people great and strong, and of such great height, like the race of the Anakim.

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 They were considered to be like giants, and they were like the sons of the Anakim. And, indeed, the Moabites call them: the Emim.

They and the descendants of Anak are also called the Repha giants, but the people of Moab call them Emim.

12 The Horites also formerly lived at Seir. When these had been driven out and destroyed, the sons of Esau lived there, just as Israel did in the land of his possession, which the Lord gave to him.

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 Then, rising up so as to cross over the torrent Zered, we arrived at the place.

[I also said to the Israeli people], “Then we crossed the Zered Gorge, as Yahweh told us to do.

14 Then, from the time that we advanced from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the torrent Zered, there were thirty-eight years, until the entire generation of the men who were fit for war had been consumed out of the camp, just as the Lord had sworn.

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 For his hand was against them, so that they would pass away from the midst of the camp.

They died because Yahweh opposed them, until he had gotten rid of all of them.

16 Then, after all the fighting men had fallen,

After all the men who had been old enough to fight in wars had died [DOU],

17 the Lord spoke to me, saying:

Yahweh said to me,

18 ‘Today, you shall cross the borders of Moab, at the city named Ar.

‘Today you all must cross the border into the Moab region, near Ar, [their capital city].

19 And when you have arrived in the vicinity of the sons of Ammon, be careful that you do not fight against them, nor should you be moved to battle. For I will not give to you from the land of the sons of Ammon, because I have given it to the sons of Lot as a 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 It was reputed to be a land of giants. And giants lived there in times past, those whom the Ammonites call the Zamzummim.

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 are a people, great and numerous, and of lofty stature, like the Anakim, whom the Lord wiped away before their face. And he caused them to live there in place of them,

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 sons of Esau, who live at Seir, wiping out the Horites and delivering their land to them, which they possess even to the present time.

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 Likewise the Hevites, who were living in small villages as far as Gaza, were expelled by the Cappadocians, who went forth from Cappadocia, and they wiped them out and lived 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 ‘Rise up and cross the torrent Arnon! Behold, I have delivered Sihon, the king of Heshbon, the Amorite, into your hand, and so, begin to possess his land and to engage in battle against him.

“[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 Today I will begin to send the terror and dread of you among the peoples who are living under all of heaven, so that, when they hear your name, they may be afraid, and may tremble in the manner of a woman giving birth, and may be gripped by anguish.’

Today I will begin to cause everyone, everywhere, to be afraid of you. Everyone who hears about you will tremble and be terrified.’

26 Therefore, I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon, the king of Heshbon, with peaceful words, 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 ‘We will cross through your land. We will advance by the public way. We will not turn aside, neither to the right, nor 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 Sell us food for a price, so that we may eat. Provide us with water for money, and so we will drink. We only ask that you allow us to pass through,

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 sons of Esau have done, who live at Seir, and the Moabites, who abide in Ar, until we arrive at the Jordan, and we cross to the land which the Lord our God will give to 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 And Sihon, the king of Heshbon, was not willing to grant passage to us. For the Lord your God had hardened his spirit, and had fastened his heart, so that he would be delivered into your hands, just as you now see.

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 And the Lord said to me: ‘Behold, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his land to you. Begin to possess it.’

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 And Sihon went out to meet us with all his people, to battle 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 to us. And we struck him down, with his sons and all his people.

But God enabled us to defeat [DOU] them, and we killed Sihon and his sons and all his soldiers.

34 And we seized all his cities at that time, putting to death their inhabitants: men as well as women and children. We left nothing of them,

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 except the cattle, which went to the share of those who plundered them. And we seized the spoils of the cities,

We took the valuable things that were in the cities that we captured and also their cattle.

36 from Aroer, which is above the bank of the torrent Arnon, a town which is situated in a valley, all the way to Gilead. There was not a village or city which escaped from our hands. The Lord our God delivered everything to us,

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 except the land of the sons of Ammon, which we did not approach, and all that is adjacent to the torrent Jabbok, and the cities in the mountains, and all the places which the Lord our God prohibited to us.”

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.”