Deuteronomy 2

1 “And we turn and journey into the wilderness, the way of the Red Sea, as YHWH has spoken to me, and we go around Mount Seir [for] many days.

“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 YHWH speaks to me, saying,

Then Yahweh said to me,

3 For you go around this mountain long enough; turn for yourselves northward.

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

4 And the people command you, saying, You are passing over into the border of your brothers, sons of Esau, who are dwelling in Seir, and they are afraid of you; and you have been very watchful;

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 you do not strive with them, for I do not give [any] of their land to you—even the treading of the sole of a foot; I have given Mount Seir to Esau for 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 buy food from them with money, and have eaten; and you also buy water from them with money, and have drunk.

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

7 For your God YHWH has blessed you in all the work of your hands; He has known your walking in this great wilderness these forty years; your God YHWH [is] with you; you have not lacked anything.

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 we pass by from our brothers, sons of Esau, who are dwelling in Seir, by the way of the plain, by Elath and by Ezion-Gaber, and we turn and pass over the way 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 and YHWH says to me, Do not distress Moab, nor stir yourself up against them [in] battle, for I do not give [any] of their land to you [for] a possession; for I have given Ar to the sons of Lot [for] 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 have formerly dwelt in it, a people great, and numerous, and tall as 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 are reckoned [as] Rephaim, they also, as the Anakim; and the Moabites call them Emim.

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

12 And the Horim have formerly dwelt in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossess them, and destroy them from before them, and dwell in their stead, as Israel has done to the land of his possession which YHWH has given to them.

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 rise and pass over the Brook of Zered for yourselves; and we pass 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 And the days which we have walked from Kadesh-Barnea until we have passed over the Brook of Zered [are] thirty-eight years, until the consumption of all the generation of the men of battle from the midst of the camp, as YHWH has 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 and indeed the hand of YHWH has been against them, to destroy them from the midst of the camp until they are consumed.

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

16 And it comes to pass, when all the men of battle have finished dying from the midst of the people,

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

17 that YHWH speaks to me, saying,

Yahweh said to me,

18 Today you are passing over the border of Moab, even Ar,

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

19 and [when] you have come near the sons of Ammon, you do not distress them, nor stir yourself up against them, for I do not give [any] of the land of the sons of Ammon to you [for] a possession; for I have given it to the sons of Lot [for] 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 is reckoned [as] a land of Rephaim, even it; Rephaim formerly dwelt in it, and the Ammonites call them 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 a people great, and numerous, and tall as the Anakim, and YHWH destroys them before them, and they dispossess them, and dwell in their stead,

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 as He has done for the sons of Esau who are dwelling in Seir, when He destroyed the Horim from before them, and they dispossess them, and dwell in their stead 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 As for the Avim who are dwelling in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim—who are coming out from Caphtor—have destroyed them, and dwell in their stead.

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, journey, and pass over the Brook of Arnon; see, I have given into your hand Sihon king of Heshbon, the Amorite, and his land; begin to possess [it], and stir yourself up against 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 [is] the day I begin to put your dread and your fear on the face of the peoples under the whole heavens, who hear your fame, and have trembled and been pained 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 And I send messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon, [with] words of peace, 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 me pass over through your land; in the way—in the way I go, I do not turn aside [to the] right or 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 sell me food for money, and I have eaten; and you give to me water for money, and I have drunk; only, let me pass over on my feet,

We will pay for any food or water that you allow us to buy. We want only to walk through your country,

29 as the sons of Esau who are dwelling in Seir and the Moabites who are dwelling in Ar have done for me, until I pass over the Jordan to the land which our God YHWH is giving 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 king of Heshbon has not been willing to let us pass over by him, for your God YHWH has hardened his spirit and strengthened his heart, so as to give him into your hand as at 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 And YHWH says to me, See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land before your faces; begin to possess—to 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 And Sihon comes out to meet us, he and all his people, to the battle at Jahaz;

Then Sihon came out [of the city] with all his army to fight against us at Jahaz [town].

33 and our God YHWH gives him before our faces, and we strike him, and 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 capture all his cities at that time, and devote the whole city—men, and the women, and the infants; we have not left a remnant;

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 only, we have spoiled the livestock for ourselves, and the spoil of the cities which we have captured.

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

36 From Aroer, which [is] by the edge of the Brook of Arnon, and the city which [is] by the brook, even to Gilead, there has not been a city which [is] too high for us; our God YHWH has given the whole before our faces.

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 Only, you have not drawn near to the land of the sons of Ammon—any part of the Brook of Jabbok, and cities of the hill-country, and anything which our God YHWH has [not] commanded.”

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.”