< Deuteronomy 2 >

1 And departing from thence we came into the wilderness that leadeth to the Red Sea, as the Lord had spoken to me: and we compassed mount Seir a long time.
Then we went back, journeying into the waste land by the way to the Red Sea, as the Lord had said to me: and we were a long time going round Mount Seir.
2 And the Lord said to me:
And the Lord said to me,
3 You have compassed this mountain long enough: go toward the north:
You have been journeying round this mountain long enough: now go to the north;
4 And command thou the people, saying: You shall pass by the borders of your brethren the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, and they will be afraid of you.
And give the people orders, saying, You are about to go through the land of your brothers, the children of Esau, who are living in Seir; and they will have fear of you; so take care what you do:
5 Take ye then good heed that you stir not against them. For I will not give you of their land so much as the step of one foot can tread upon, because I have given mount Seir to Esau, for a possession.
Make no attack on them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even space enough for a man's foot: because I have given Mount Seir to Esau for his heritage.
6 You shall buy meats of them for money and shall eat: you shall draw waters for money, and shall drink.
You may get food for your needs from them for a price, and water for drinking.
7 The Lord thy God hath blessed thee in every work of thy hands: the Lord thy God dwelling with thee, knoweth thy journey, how thou hast passed through this great wilderness, for forty years, and thou hast wanted nothing.
For the blessing of the Lord your God has been on you in all the work of your hands: he has knowledge of your wanderings through this great waste: these forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have been short of nothing.
8 And when we had passed by our brethren the children of Esau, that dwelt in Seir, by the way of the plain from Elath and from Asiongaber, we came to the way that leadeth to the desert of Moab.
So we went on past our brothers, the children of Esau, living in Seir, by the road through the Arabah, from Elath and Ezion-geber. And turning, we went by the road through the waste land of Moab.
9 And the Lord said to me: Fight not against the Moabites, neither go to battle against them: for I will not give thee any of their land, because I have given Ar to the children of Lot in possession.
And the Lord said to me, Make no attack on Moab and do not go to war with them, for I will not give you any of his land: because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for their heritage.
10 The Emims first were the inhabitants thereof, a people great, and strong, and so tall, that like the race of the Enacims,
(In the past the Emim were living there; a great people, equal in numbers to the Anakim and as tall;
11 They were esteemed as giants, and were like the sons of the Enacims. But the Moabites call them Emims.
They are numbered among the Rephaim, like the Anakim; but are named Emim by the Moabites.
12 The Horrhites also formerly dwelt in Seir: who being driven out and destroyed, the children of Esau dwelt there, as Israel did in the land of his possession, which the Lord gave him.
And the Horites in earlier times were living in Seir, but the children of Esau took their place; they sent destruction on them and took their land for themselves, as Israel did to the land of his heritage which the Lord gave them.)
13 Then rising up to pass the torrent Zared, we came to it.
Get up now, and go over the stream Zered. So we went over the stream Zered.
14 And the time that we journeyed from Cadesbarne till we passed over the torrent Zared, was thirty-eight years: until all the generation of the men that were fit for war was consumed out of the camp, as the Lord had sworn:
Thirty-eight years had gone by from the time when we came away from Kadesh-barnea till we went over the stream Zered; by that time all the generation of the men of war among us were dead, as the Lord had said.
15 For his hand was against them, that they should perish from the midst of the camp.
For the hand of the Lord was against them, working their destruction, till all were dead.
16 And after all the fighting men were dead,
So when death had overtaken all the men of war among the people,
17 The Lord spoke to me, saying:
The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
18 Thou shalt pass this day the borders of Moab, the city named Ar:
You are about to go by Ar, the limit of the country of Moab;
19 And when thou comest nigh the frontiers of the children of Ammon, take heed thou fight not against them, nor once move to battle: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon, because I have given it to the children of Lot for a possession.
And when you come near the land of the children of Ammon, give them no cause of trouble and do not make war on them, for I will not give you any of the land of the children of Ammon for your heritage: because I have given it to the children of Lot.
20 It was accounted a land of giants: and giants formerly dwelt in it, whom the Ammonites call Zomzommims,
(That land is said to have been a land of the Rephaim, for Rephaim had been living there in earlier times, but they were named Zamzummim by the Ammonites;
21 A people great and many, and of tall stature, like the Enacims whom the Lord destroyed before their face: and he made them to dwell in their stead,
They were a great people, tall as the Anakim, and equal to them in number; but the Lord sent destruction on them and the children of Ammon took their place, living in their land;
22 As he had done in favour of the children of Esau, that dwell in Seir, destroying the Horrhites, and delivering their land to them, which they possess to this day.
As he did for the children of Esau living in Seir, when he sent destruction on the Horites before them, and they took their land where they are living to this day:
23 The Hevites also, that dwelt in Haserim as far as Gaza, were expelled by the Cappadocians: who came out of Cappadocia, and destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.
And the Avvim, living in the small towns as far as Gaza, came to destruction by the hands of the Caphtorim who came out from Caphtor and took their land.)
24 Arise ye, and pass the torrent Arnon: Behold I have delivered into thy hand Sehon king of Hesebon the Amorrhite, and begin thou to possess his land and make war against him.
Get up now, and go on your journey, crossing over the valley of the Arnon: see, I have given into your hands Sihon, the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and all his land: go forward to make it yours, and make war on him,
25 This day will I begin to send the dread and fear of thee upon the nations that dwell under the whole heaven: that when they hear thy name they may fear and tremble, and be in pain like women in travail.
From now on I will put the fear of you in all peoples under heaven, who, hearing of you, will be shaking with fear and grief of heart because of you.
26 So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Cademoth to Sehon the king of Hesebon with peaceable words, saying:
Then from the waste land of Kedemoth I sent representatives to Sihon, king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying,
27 We will pass through thy land, we will go along by the highway: we will not turn aside neither to the right hand nor to the left.
Let me go through your land: I will keep to the highway, not turning to the right or to the left;
28 Sell us meat for money, that we may eat: give us water for money and so we will drink. We only ask that thou wilt let us pass through,
Let me have food, at a price, for my needs, and water for drinking: only let me go through on foot;
29 As the children of Esau have done, that dwell in Seir, and the Moabites, that abide in Ar: until we come to the Jordan, and pass to the land which the Lord our God will give us.
As the children of Esau did for me in Seir and the Moabites in Ar; till I have gone over Jordan into the land which the Lord our God is giving us.
30 And Sehon the king of Hesebon would not let us pass: because the Lord thy God had hardened his spirit, and fixed his heart, that he might be delivered into thy hands, as now thou seest.
But Sihon, king of Heshbon, would not let us go through; for the Lord your God made his spirit hard and his heart strong, so that he might give him up into your hands as at this day.
31 And the Lord said to me: Behold I have begun to deliver unto thee Sehon and his land, begin to possess it.
And the Lord said to me, See, from now on I have given Sihon and his land into your hands: go forward now to take his land and make it yours.
32 And Sehon came out to meet us with all his people to fight at Jasa.
Then Sihon came out against us with all his people, to make an attack on us at Jahaz.
33 And the Lord our God delivered him to us: and we slew him with his sons and all his people.
And the Lord our God gave him into our hands; and we overcame him and his sons and all his people.
34 And we took all his cities at that time, killing the inhabitants of them, men and women and children. We left nothing of them:
At that time we took all his towns, and gave them over to complete destruction, together with men, women, and children; we had no mercy on any:
35 Except the cattle which came to the share of them that took them: and the spoils of the cities, which we took:
Only the cattle we took for ourselves, with the goods from the towns we had taken.
36 From Aroer, which is upon the bank of the torrent Amen, a town that is situate in a valley, as far as Galaad. There was not a village or city, that escaped our hands: the Lord our God delivered all unto us:
From Aroer on the edge of the valley of the Arnon and from the town in the valley as far as Gilead, no town was strong enough to keep us out; the Lord our God gave them all into our hands:
37 Except the land of the children of Ammon, to which we approached not: and all that border upon the torrent Jeboc, and the cities in the mountains, and all the places which the Lord our God forbade us.
But you did not go near the land of the children of Ammon, that is, all the side of the river Jabbok or the towns of the hill-country, wherever the Lord our God had said we were not to go.

< Deuteronomy 2 >