Chapter 2

Then we went back, journeying into the waste land by the way to the Red Sea, as the Lord had said to me: and we were a long time going round Mount Seir.

And the Lord said to me,

You have been journeying round this mountain long enough: now go to the north;

And give the people orders, saying, You are about to go through the land of your brothers, the children of Esau, who are living in Seir; and they will have fear of you; so take care what you do:

Make no attack on them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even space enough for a man's foot: because I have given Mount Seir to Esau for his heritage.

You may get food for your needs from them for a price, and water for drinking.

For the blessing of the Lord your God has been on you in all the work of your hands: he has knowledge of your wanderings through this great waste: these forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have been short of nothing.

So we went on past our brothers, the children of Esau, living in Seir, by the road through the Arabah, from Elath and Ezion-geber. And turning, we went by the road through the waste land of Moab.

And the Lord said to me, Make no attack on Moab and do not go to war with them, for I will not give you any of his land: because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for their heritage.

(In the past the Emim were living there; a great people, equal in numbers to the Anakim and as tall;

They are numbered among the Rephaim, like the Anakim; but are named Emim by the Moabites.

And the Horites in earlier times were living in Seir, but the children of Esau took their place; they sent destruction on them and took their land for themselves, as Israel did to the land of his heritage which the Lord gave them.)

Get up now, and go over the stream Zered. So we went over the stream Zered.

Thirty-eight years had gone by from the time when we came away from Kadesh-barnea till we went over the stream Zered; by that time all the generation of the men of war among us were dead, as the Lord had said.

For the hand of the Lord was against them, working their destruction, till all were dead.

So when death had overtaken all the men of war among the people,

The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

You are about to go by Ar, the limit of the country of Moab;

And when you come near the land of the children of Ammon, give them no cause of trouble and do not make war on them, for I will not give you any of the land of the children of Ammon for your heritage: because I have given it to the children of Lot.

(That land is said to have been a land of the Rephaim, for Rephaim had been living there in earlier times, but they were named Zamzummim by the Ammonites;

They were a great people, tall as the Anakim, and equal to them in number; but the Lord sent destruction on them and the children of Ammon took their place, living in their land;

As he did for the children of Esau living in Seir, when he sent destruction on the Horites before them, and they took their land where they are living to this day:

And the Avvim, living in the small towns as far as Gaza, came to destruction by the hands of the Caphtorim who came out from Caphtor and took their land.)

Get up now, and go on your journey, crossing over the valley of the Arnon: see, I have given into your hands Sihon, the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and all his land: go forward to make it yours, and make war on him,

From now on I will put the fear of you in all peoples under heaven, who, hearing of you, will be shaking with fear and grief of heart because of you.

Then from the waste land of Kedemoth I sent representatives to Sihon, king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying,

Let me go through your land: I will keep to the highway, not turning to the right or to the left;

Let me have food, at a price, for my needs, and water for drinking: only let me go through on foot;

As the children of Esau did for me in Seir and the Moabites in Ar; till I have gone over Jordan into the land which the Lord our God is giving us.

But Sihon, king of Heshbon, would not let us go through; for the Lord your God made his spirit hard and his heart strong, so that he might give him up into your hands as at this day.

And the Lord said to me, See, from now on I have given Sihon and his land into your hands: go forward now to take his land and make it yours.

Then Sihon came out against us with all his people, to make an attack on us at Jahaz.

And the Lord our God gave him into our hands; and we overcame him and his sons and all his people.

At that time we took all his towns, and gave them over to complete destruction, together with men, women, and children; we had no mercy on any:

Only the cattle we took for ourselves, with the goods from the towns we had taken.

From Aroer on the edge of the valley of the Arnon and from the town in the valley as far as Gilead, no town was strong enough to keep us out; the Lord our God gave them all into our hands:

But you did not go near the land of the children of Ammon, that is, all the side of the river Jabbok or the towns of the hill-country, wherever the Lord our God had said we were not to go.