Skirting Seir, Moab, and Ammon
1Then we turned and set out for the wilderness, by way of the Red Sea, as Yahweh had told me, and we went around Mount Seir for a long time. 2Yahweh said to me, 3“You have gone around this mountain long enough. Turn north. 4Command the people: You are about to pass through the territory of your relatives, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so be very careful. 5Do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even a foot’s breadth, because I have given the hill country of Seir to Esau as a possession. 6You are to buy food from them with silver, that you may eat, and buy water from them with silver, that you may drink. 7For Yahweh your God has blessed you in everything you have done. He has watched over your journey through this great wilderness. These forty years Yahweh your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.” 8So we passed beyond our relatives, the descendants of Esau who live in Seir, away from the route of the Arabah, from Elath and Ezion-geber, and we turned and passed along the route of the wilderness of Moab. 9Yahweh 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 a possession.” 10(The Emim used to live there, a people great, numerous, and as tall as the Anakim. 11They too are counted among the Rephaim, as the Anakim are, but the Moabites call them Emim. 12The Horites also used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed them, destroying them and settling in their place, just as Israel did in the land Yahweh gave them as a possession.) 13Now, get up and cross the Wadi Zered. So we crossed the Wadi Zered. 14The time it took us to travel from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Wadi Zered was thirty-eight years, until that whole generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, just as Yahweh had sworn to them. 15Indeed, Yahweh’s hand was against them, to eliminate them from the camp until they were gone. 16So when all the fighting men among the people had died off, 17Yahweh spoke to me, 18“Today you are going to cross the border of Moab, at Ar. 19When you come opposite the descendants of Ammon, do not harass them or provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the descendants of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the descendants of Lot as a possession.” 20(That too is counted as a land of the Rephaim; the Rephaim used to live there, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim — 21a people great, numerous, and as tall as the Anakim. But Yahweh destroyed them before the Ammonites, who dispossessed them and settled in their place, 22just as he did for the descendants of Esau who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites before them; they dispossessed them and have lived in their place to this day. 23As for the Avvites who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorites, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and settled in their place.)
Victory over Sihon of Heshbon
24Then Yahweh said, “Now get up, 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 take possession; provoke him to battle. 25This very day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples everywhere under heaven. When they hear the report of you, they will tremble and writhe in anguish before you.” 26So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon, with words of peace, 27“Let me pass through your land. I will keep strictly to the road; I will not turn aside to the right or to the left. 28Sell me food for silver, that I may eat, and give me water for silver, that I may drink. Only let me pass through on foot — 29as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir did for me, and the Moabites who live in Ar — until I cross the Jordan into the land Yahweh our God is giving us.” 30But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing to let us pass through, for Yahweh your God had hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to give him into your hand, as he is today. 31Yahweh said to me, “See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to take possession, that you may possess his land.” 32Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz. 33Yahweh our God gave him over to us, and we struck him down, along with his sons and all his people. 34We captured all his cities at that time and devoted every city to destruction — men, women, and children. We left no survivor. 35Only the livestock we kept for ourselves, along with the plunder of the cities we captured. 36From Aroer, on the edge of the Wadi Arnon, and from the city in the valley, as far as Gilead, there was no town too strong for us. Yahweh our God gave everything over to us. 37But you did not go near the land of the descendants of Ammon, any part along the Wadi Jabbok, the towns of the hill country, or anywhere Yahweh our God had forbidden us.
