Wanderings in the Wilderness
And we turned and set out for the wilderness by the way of the Sea of Reeds, as the LORD had spoken to me; and we went around Mount Seir many days.
And the LORD said to me, saying,
“You have gone around this mountain long enough. Turn northward.
And command the people, saying: You are passing through the border of your brothers, the sons of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful.
Do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land — not so much as a footprint of the sole of a foot — for I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.
Food you shall buy from them with silver, and eat; and water also you shall purchase from them with silver, and drink.
For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He has known your walking through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.”
And we passed on away from our brothers, the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, off the way of the Arabah, away from Elath and from Ezion-geber; and we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.
And the LORD said to me, “Do not harass Moab, and do not provoke them to war, 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.”
(The Emim lived there formerly — a people great and many and tall, like the Anakim.
They too are counted as Rephaim, like the Anakim; but the Moabites call them Emim.
And in Seir the Horites lived formerly; but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them, and lived in their place — as Israel did to the land of his possession, which the LORD gave them.)
“Now rise up, and cross over the Valley of Zered.” And we crossed the Valley of Zered.
And the days that we went from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Valley of Zered were thirty-eight years — until all the generation of the men of war had come to an end from the midst of the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.
And indeed the hand of the LORD was against them, to rout them from the midst of the camp until they came to an end.
And it was, when all the men of war had finished dying from among the people,
that the LORD spoke to me, saying,
“Today you are crossing the border of Moab, at Ar.
And you will come near, opposite the sons of Ammon. Do not harass them, and do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon as a possession — for I have given it to the sons of Lot as a possession.”
(That too is counted a land of Rephaim; Rephaim lived in it formerly, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim —
a people great and many and tall, like the Anakim. And the LORD destroyed them from before them, and they dispossessed them and lived in their place,
as he did for the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them; and they dispossessed them and have lived in their place to this day.
And the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza — the Caphtorim, who came out from Caphtor, destroyed them and lived in their place.)
The Defeat of Sihon
“Rise up, set out, and cross the Valley of the Arnon. See — I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin — take possession, and provoke him to war.
This day I will begin to put the dread of you and the fear of you on the face of the peoples under all the heavens, who will hear the report of you and tremble and writhe before you.”
And I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying,
“Let me pass through your land. By the road, by the road I will go; I will not turn aside right or left.
Food you shall sell me for silver, and I will eat; and water you shall give me for silver, and I will drink. Only let me pass through on foot —
as the sons of Esau who live in Seir did for me, and the Moabites who live in Ar — until I cross the Jordan into the land that the LORD our God is giving us.”
But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing to let us pass through him; for the LORD your God had made his spirit hard and his heart strong, in order to give him into your hand, as it is this day.
And the LORD said to me, “See — I have begun to give Sihon and his land before you. Begin — take possession, to possess his land.”
And Sihon came out to meet us, he and all his people, for battle at Jahaz.
And the LORD our God gave him before us; and we struck him down, and his sons, and all his people.
And we captured all his cities at that time, and devoted to destruction every city — men, and the women, and the little ones; we left no survivor.
Only the livestock we plundered for ourselves, with the spoil of the cities that we captured.
From Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the valley, as far as Gilead, there was no town too high for us; the LORD our God gave all of it before us.
Only to the land of the sons of Ammon you did not come near — all the side of the Valley of the Jabbok, and the cities of the hill country, and all that the LORD our God had commanded.