CHAPTER 2
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
the hill country
of Seir.
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.
Do not
provoke them,
for
I will not
give you
any of their land,
not even
a footprint,
because
I have given
Esau
the hill country
of Seir
as his possession.
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.
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.
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
as a possession
to the descendants
of Lot.
The Horites
used to
live
in Seir,
but the descendants
of Esau
drove them out,
destroying them completely
and settling
in their place,
just as
Israel
did
in the land
the LORD
gave them
as their possession.)
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.
Indeed,
the LORD’s
hand
was against them,
to eliminate them
from
the camp,
until
they had all perished.
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,
because
I have given
it as a possession
to the descendants
of Lot.
(That too
was regarded
as the land
of the Rephaim,
who
used to live there,
though the Ammonites
called
them Zamzummites.
They were a people
great
and many,
as tall
as the Anakites.
But the LORD
destroyed them
before the Ammonites,
who drove them out
and settled
in their place,
just as
He had done
for the descendants
of Esau
who lived
in Seir,
when
He destroyed
the Horites
before them.
They drove them out
and have lived
in their place
to
this
day.
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.)
Arise,
set out,
and cross
the Arnon
Valley.
See,
I have handed
Sihon
the Amorite,
king
of Heshbon,
and his land
over to you.
Begin
to take possession of it
and engage
him
in battle.
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.”
So from the Wilderness
of Kedemoth
I sent
messengers
with an offer
of peace
to
Sihon
king
of Heshbon,
saying,
“Let us pass
through your land;
we will stay on the main road.
We will not
turn
to the right
or to the left.
You can sell
us food
to eat
and
water
to drink
in exchange for silver.
Only
let us pass through
on foot,
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
the LORD
our God
is giving
us.”
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 give him
into your hands,
as is the case
this day.
Then the LORD
said
to me,
“See,
I have begun
to deliver
Sihon
and his land
to you.
Now
begin
to conquer
and possess
his land.”
And the LORD
our God
delivered him over
to us,
and we defeated him
and his sons
and his whole
army.
At that
time
we captured
all
his cities
and completely destroyed
the people
of every
city,
including women
and children.
We left
no
survivors.
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.
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.