Deuteronomy 2

¹Then we turned and set out into the wilderness by the way of the Reed Sea, as the LORD spoke to me, and we went around Mount Seir for many days.

²And the Lord said to me, saying:

³You have been going around this mountain long enough; turn northward.

⁴And the people command, saying: You are about to pass through the territory of your kinsmen, the sons of Esau, who dwell in Seir, and they will fear you. So take great care:

⁵Do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land -- not so much as a footprint -- for I have given Mount Seir as a possession to Esau.

⁶Food you shall buy from them with silver and eat; and also water you shall buy from them with silver and drink.

⁷For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand; he has known your journey through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.

⁸So we passed by our kinsmen, the sons of Esau who dwell in Seir, away from the road of the Arabah, away from Elath and Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.

⁹And the Lord said to me, 'Do not harass Moab and do not provoke them in battle, for I will not give you any of his land as a possession, for I have given Ar to the sons of Lot as a possession.'

¹⁰The Emim formerly dwelt there, a people great and numerous and tall as the Anakites.

¹¹They too are reckoned as Rephaites, like the Anakites; but the Moabites call them Emim.

¹²And in Seir the Horites dwelt previously, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did to the land of its possession that the LORD gave to them.

¹³'Now arise and cross the Wadi Zered.' And we crossed the Wadi Zered.

¹⁴And the days from when we went from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Wadi Zered were thirty-eight years, until the whole generation of the men of war had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.

¹⁵Indeed the hand of the LORD was against them, to throw them into confusion from within the camp, until they perished.

¹⁶And it came to pass, when all the men of war had finished dying from the midst of the people,

¹⁷And the LORD spoke to me, saying,

¹⁸You are crossing today the border of Moab, at Ar.

¹⁹And when you approach opposite the sons of Ammon, do not harass them and do not provoke them to battle; for I will not give any of the land of the sons of Ammon to you as a possession, for to the sons of Lot I have given it as a possession.

²⁰That too is considered a land of Rephaites; Rephaites formerly dwelt in it, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummites.

²¹a people great and many and tall, like the Anakim; and the LORD destroyed them from before them, and they dispossessed them and settled in their place,

²²just as he did for the sons of Esau who dwell in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them, and they dispossessed them and settled in their place until this day.

²³And as for the Avvim who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorites who came out from Caphtor destroyed them and settled in their place.

²⁴Arise, set out, and cross the Wadi Arnon. See, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite king of Heshbon and his land. Begin to possess it, and engage him in battle.

²⁵This very day I begin to put your dread and fear of you upon the face of the peoples under all the heavens, who will hear your report and will tremble and writhe before you.

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

²⁷Let me pass through your land; I will go only along the road, along the road -- I will not turn aside to the right or to the left.

²⁸Food for silver you shall sell to me, that I may eat; and water for silver you shall give to me, that I may drink -- only let me pass through on my feet.

²⁹just as the sons of Esau who dwell in Seir and the Moabites who dwell in Ar did for me, until I cross the Jordan to the land that the LORD our God is giving to us.

³⁰But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing to let us pass through it, for the LORD your God hardened his spirit and made his heart firm, in order to give him into your hand, as on this day.

³¹And the Lord said to me, 'See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over before you. Begin to possess, to take possession of his land.'

³²And Sihon came out to meet us, he and all his people, for battle at Jahaz.

³³And the LORD our God gave him before us, and we struck him and his son and his sons and all his people.

³⁴And we captured all his cities at that time and devoted to destruction every inhabited city -- men, women, and children -- we left no survivor.

³⁵Only the livestock we plundered for ourselves, and the spoil of the cities that we had captured.

³⁶From Aroer, which is on the bank of the Wadi Arnon, including the city that is in the wadi, and as far as Gilead, there was no town that was too strong for us; all of it the LORD our God gave before us.

³⁷Only to the land of the sons of Ammon you did not draw near, to all the bank of the Jabbok River, and the cities of the hill country, and all that the LORD our God commanded.