Deuteronomy 2

2 ¹ Then we turned and set out into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea, as our Father had told me, and for many days we skirted the hill country of Seir.

Pass Through, Not In

² Then our Father said to me,

³ "You have gone around this hill country long enough. Turn northward, ⁴ and command the people: You are about to pass through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so be very careful. ⁵ Do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to set the sole of your foot on, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as his possession. ⁶ You will buy food from them with money so you may eat, and you will also buy water from them with money so you may drink.

⁷ For your Father has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this great wilderness. These forty years your Father has been with you, and you have lacked nothing.

⁸ So we passed by our brothers, the descendants of Esau who live in Seir, away from the Arabah road that comes up from Elath and Ezion-geber. Then we turned and went on toward the wilderness of Moab.

⁹ And our Father said to me, "Do not harass Moab or provoke them to battle, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as their possession."

¹⁰ (The Emim formerly lived there, a large and powerful people, as tall as the Anakim. ¹¹ Like the Anakim, they too are counted as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim. ¹² The Horites also used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed and destroyed them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land our Father gave them.)

¹³ "Now get moving and cross the Wadi Zered." So we crossed the Wadi Zered.

¹⁴ The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Wadi Zered was thirty-eight years, until the whole generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as our Father had sworn to them. ¹⁵ Indeed, the hand of our Father was against them, to root them out from the camp until they had perished.

¹⁶ So when all the fighting men had finally perished and died from among the people, ¹⁷ our Father said to me,

¹⁸ "Today you are to cross the boundary of Moab at Ar. ¹⁹ When you approach the territory of the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the Ammonites as a possession, because I have given it to the descendants of Lot as their possession."

²⁰ (That too is regarded as a land of Rephaim. Rephaim formerly lived there, though the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, ²¹ a large and powerful people, as tall as the Anakim. But our Father destroyed them before the Ammonites, who dispossessed them and settled in their place, ²² just as he did for the descendants of Esau who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites before them, so that they dispossessed them and settled in their place, where they remain to this day. ²³ And the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, were destroyed by the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor and settled in their place.) ¹ 1 v23 Caphtor is the ancient name for Crete and the surrounding Aegean region; the Caphtorim were a seafaring people who settled along the coast near Gaza.

The Arnon Crossing

²⁴ "Move out and cross the Wadi Arnon. Look, I have handed over Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land to you. Begin to take possession of it and attack him.

Dread Falls on the Nations

²⁵ This very day I will begin to fill every people under heaven with dread and fear of you. They will hear the report of you and will tremble and writhe in anguish because of you."

Moses Offers Peace to Sihon

²⁶ So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,

Sihon Refuses

²⁷ "Let me pass through your land. I will keep strictly to the road, turning aside neither to the right nor to the left. ²⁸ You will sell me food for money so I may eat, and give me water for money so I may drink. Only let me pass through on foot, ²⁹ as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me, until I cross the Jordan into the land that our Father is giving us."

³⁰ But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through, for our Father had hardened his spirit and made his heart stubborn, so that he might hand him over to you, as he has done this day.

³¹ And our Father said to me, "Look, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin now to take possession, so that you may occupy his land."

³² Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz. ³³ And our Father gave him over to us, and we struck him down along with his sons and all his people.

³⁴ At that time we captured all his cities and completely destroyed every city—the men, the women, and the little ones. We left no survivor. ³⁵ We kept only the livestock as plunder for ourselves, along with everything of value from the cities we had captured.

³⁶ From Aroer, on the edge of the Wadi Arnon, and from the town in the valley, as far as Gilead, there was no town too strong for us. Our Father gave them all over to us. ³⁷ But you did not go near the land of the Ammonites—all along the banks of the Wadi Jabbok and the towns of the hill country—just as our Father had commanded us.