Deuteronomy 2

1 “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.

And we turned and departed into the wilderness, by the way of the Red Sea, as the Lord spoke to me, and we compassed mount Seir many days.

2 Then Yahweh said to me,

And the Lord said to me,

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

You have compassed this mount long enough; turn therefore toward the north.

4 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,

And charge the people, saying, You are going through the borders of your brethren the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir; and they shall fear you, and dread you greatly.

5 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.

Do not engage in war against them, for I will not give you of their land even enough to set your foot upon, for I have given mount Seir to the children of Esau as an inheritance.

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

Buy food of them for money and eat, and you shall receive water of them by measure for money, and drink.

7 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].

For the Lord our God has blessed you in every work of your hands. Consider how you went through that great and terrible wilderness: behold, the Lord your God [has been] with you forty years; you did not lack any thing.

8 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.

And we passed by our brethren the children of Esau, who lived in Seir, by the way of Araba from Aelon and from Gesion Gaber; and we turned and passed by the way of the desert of Moab.

9 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].’”

And the Lord said to me, Do not you quarrel with the Moabites, and do not engage in war with them; for I will not give you of their land for an inheritance, for I have given Aroer to the children of Lot to inherit.

10 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.

Formerly the Ommin lived in it, a great and numerous nation and powerful, like the Enakim.

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

These also shall be accounted Raphain like the Enakim; and the Moabites call them Ommin.

12 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.

And the Chorrhite lived in Seir before, and the sons of Esau destroyed them, and utterly consumed them from before them; and they lived in their place, as Israel did to the land of his inheritance, which the Lord gave to them.

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

Now then, arise you, [said I], and depart, and cross the valley of Zaret.

14 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.

And the days in which we traveled from Cades Barne till we crossed the valley of Zaret, [were] thirty and eight years, until the whole generation of the men of war failed, dying out of the camp, as the Lord God sware to them.

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

And the hand of the Lord was upon them to destroy them out of the midst of the camp, until they were consumed.

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

And it came to pass when all the men of war dying out of the midst of the people had fallen,

17 Yahweh said to me,

that the Lord spoke to me, saying,

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

You shall pass over this day the borders of Moab to Aroer;

19 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.’”

and you shall draw near to the children of Amman: do not quarrel with them, nor wage war with them; for I will not give you of the land of the children of Amman for an inheritance, because I have given it to the children of Lot for an inheritance.

20 That region is also called the land of the Repha giants, who formerly lived there. The Ammon people-group call them the Zamzum group.

It shall be accounted a land of Raphain, for the Raphain lived there before, and the Ammanites call them Zochommin.

21 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.

A great nation and populous, and mightier than you, as also the Enakim: yet the Lord destroyed them from before them, and they inherited [their land], and they lived [there] instead of them until this day.

22 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.

As they did to the children of Esau that dwell in Seir, even as they destroyed the Chorrhite from before them, and inherited their country, and lived [therein] instead of them until this day.

23 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.

And the Evites who dwell in Asedoth to Gaza, and the Cappadocians who came out of Cappadocia, destroyed them, and lived in their room.

24 “[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.

Now then arise and depart, and pass over the valley of Arnon: behold, I have delivered into your hands Seon the king of Esebon the Amorite, and his land: begin to inherit [it]: engage in war with him this day.

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

Begin to put your terror and your fear on the face of all the nations under heaven, who shall be troubled when they have heard your name, and shall be in anguish before you.

26 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:

And I sent ambassadors from the wilderness of Kedamoth to Seon king of Esebon with peaceful words, saying,

27 ‘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.

I will pass through your land: I will go by the road, I will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

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

You shall give me food for money, and I will eat; and you shall give me water for money, and I will drink; I will only go through on my feet:

29 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.’

as the sons of Esau did to me, who lived in Seir, and the Moabites who lived in Aroer, until I shall have passed Jordan into the land which the Lord our God gives us.

30 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.

And Seon king of Esebon would not that we should pass by him, because the Lord our God hardened his spirit, and made his heart stubborn, that he might be delivered into your hands, as on this day.

31 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!’

And the Lord said to me, Behold, I have begun to deliver before you Seon the king of Esebon the Amorite, and his land, and do you begin to inherit his land.

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

And Seon the king of Esebon came forth to meet us, he and all his people to war at Jassa.

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

And the Lord our God delivered him before our face, and we struck him, and his sons, and all his people.

34 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.

And we took possession of all his cities at that time, and we utterly destroyed every city in succession, and their wives, and their children; we left no living prey.

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

Only we took the cattle captive, and took the spoil of the cities.

36 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].

From Aroer, which is by the brink of the brook of Arnon, and the city which is in the valley, and as far as the mount of Galaad; there was not a city which escaped us: the Lord our God delivered all of them into our hands.

37 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.”

Only we did not draw near to the children of Amman, even all the parts bordering on the brook Jaboc, and the cities in the mountain country, as the Lord our God charged us.