DeuteronomyChapter 2
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1Then we turned back, as the LORD had told me. We headed into the wilderness on the road to the Red Sea. For many days we wandered around Mount Seir. 2Then the LORD said to me, 3"You have wandered around this hill country long enough. Turn north. 4Give the people this command: 'You will pass through the land of your relatives, the descendants of Esau. They live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so be very careful. 5Don't start a fight with them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to set your foot on. That is because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as his own. 6You must pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.'" 7The LORD your God has blessed all the work of your hands. He has watched over you as you traveled through this huge wilderness. The LORD your God has been with you these 40 years. You have not needed anything. 8So we passed by our relatives, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned away from the Arabah road, which comes up from Elath and Ezion-geber. We traveled on the road through the Wilderness of Moab. 9Then the LORD said to me, "Don't bother the Moabites. Don't start a war with them, for I will not give you any of their land. That is because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as their own." 10(The Emites used to live there. They were a strong people, and there were many of them. They were as tall as the Anakites. 11Like the Anakites, they were also thought of as Rephaim. But the Moabites called them Emites. 12The Horites used to live in Seir. But the descendants of Esau drove them out. They wiped out the Horites and settled in their place. Israel did the same thing in the land the LORD gave them as their own.) 13The LORD said, "Now get up and cross the Brook of Zered." So we crossed the Brook of Zered. 14We traveled 38 years from the time we left Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Brook of Zered. By then, that whole generation of fighting men had died and was gone from the camp. This happened just as the LORD had sworn to them. 15The LORD's hand was against them. He removed them from the camp until they had all died. 16At last all the fighting men among the people had died. 17Then the LORD said to me, 18"Today you will cross the border of Moab at Ar. 19But when you come near the Ammonites, don't bother them or start a fight with them. For I will not give you any of the Ammonites' land. I have given it to the descendants of Lot as their own." 20(That land was also thought of as the land of the Rephaim. They used to live there. But the Ammonites called them Zamzummites. 21They were a strong people, and there were many of them. They were as tall as the Anakites. But the LORD wiped them out ahead of the Ammonites. The Ammonites drove them out and settled in their place. 22The LORD had done the same for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir. He wiped out the Horites ahead of them. They drove the Horites out and still live in their place today. 23The Avvim lived in villages as far as Gaza. But the Caphtorites came out of Caphtor and wiped them out. Then they settled in their place.)a 24"Get up and go on your way. Cross the Arnon Valley. Look, I have handed Sihon the Amorite over to you. He is king of Heshbon. I have given you his land too. Begin to take it over. Go to battle against him. 25This very day I will start to make all the nations under heaven fear you and dread you. They will hear about you. They will shake and be in deep pain because of you." 26So I sent messengers from the Wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon. They offered him peace. They said, 27"Let us pass through your land. We will stay on the main road. We will not turn to the right or to the left. 28Sell us food to eat and water to drink, and we will pay in silver. Just let us walk through, 29as the descendants of Esau did for us. They live in Seir. The Moabites who live in Ar did it too. Let us pass until we cross the Jordan. We are going into the land the LORD our God is giving us." 30But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through. The LORD your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart hard. He did this so he could hand Sihon over to you. And that is what has happened today. 31Then the LORD said to me, "Look, I have begun to hand Sihon and his land over to you. Now begin to conquer his land and take it over." 32So Sihon and his whole army came out to fight against us at Jahaz. 33The LORD our God handed him over to us. We defeated him, his sons, and his whole army. 34At that time we captured all his cities. We completely destroyed the people of every city, as an offering to the LORD. That included the women and children. We left no one alive.b 35We kept only the livestock and the goods we took from the cities we captured. 36We took Aroer on the edge of the Arnon Valley and the city in the valley. We took everything as far as Gilead. No city had walls too high for us. The LORD our God gave us all of them. 37But you did not go near the land of the Ammonites. You did not go near the land along the Jabbok River or the cities of the hill country. You stayed away from every place the LORD our God had told us not to go.