The Fifth Book of Moses: Deuteronomy

⭑ Literal Standard Version 2020 ⭑

- Chapter 2 -

“And we turn and journey into the wilderness, the way of the Red Sea, as YHWH has spoken to me, and we go around Mount Seir [for] many days.

And YHWH speaks to me, saying,

For you go around this mountain long enough; turn for yourselves northward.

And the people command you, saying, You are passing over into the border of your brothers, sons of Esau, who are dwelling in Seir, and they are afraid of you; and you have been very watchful;

you do not strive with them, for I do not give [any] of their land to you—even the treading of the sole of a foot; I have given Mount Seir to Esau for a possession.

You buy food from them with money, and have eaten; and you also buy water from them with money, and have drunk.

For your God YHWH has blessed you in all the work of your hands; He has known your walking in this great wilderness these forty years; your God YHWH [is] with you; you have not lacked anything.

And we pass by from our brothers, sons of Esau, who are dwelling in Seir, by the way of the plain, by Elath and by Ezion-Gaber, and we turn and pass over the way of the wilderness of Moab;

and YHWH says to me, Do not distress Moab, nor stir yourself up against them [in] battle, for I do not give [any] of their land to you [for] a possession; for I have given Ar to the sons of Lot [for] a possession.

The Emim have formerly dwelt in it, a people great, and numerous, and tall as the Anakim;

they are reckoned [as] Rephaim, they also, as the Anakim; and the Moabites call them Emim.

And the Horim have formerly dwelt in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossess them, and destroy them from before them, and dwell in their stead, as Israel has done to the land of his possession which YHWH has given to them.

Now rise and pass over the Brook of Zered for yourselves; and we pass over the Brook of Zered.

And the days which we have walked from Kadesh-Barnea until we have passed over the Brook of Zered [are] thirty-eight years, until the consumption of all the generation of the men of battle from the midst of the camp, as YHWH has sworn to them;

and indeed the hand of YHWH has been against them, to destroy them from the midst of the camp until they are consumed.

And it comes to pass, when all the men of battle have finished dying from the midst of the people,

that YHWH speaks to me, saying,

Today you are passing over the border of Moab, even Ar,

and [when] you have come near the sons of Ammon, you do not distress them, nor stir yourself up against them, for I do not give [any] of the land of the sons of Ammon to you [for] a possession; for I have given it to the sons of Lot [for] a possession.

It is reckoned [as] a land of Rephaim, even it; Rephaim formerly dwelt in it, and the Ammonites call them Zamzummim,

a people great, and numerous, and tall as the Anakim, and YHWH destroys them before them, and they dispossess them, and dwell in their stead,

as He has done for the sons of Esau who are dwelling in Seir, when He destroyed the Horim from before them, and they dispossess them, and dwell in their stead to this day.

As for the Avim who are dwelling in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim—who are coming out from Caphtor—have destroyed them, and dwell in their stead.

The Defeat of Sihon

(Numbers 21:21–30)

Rise, journey, and pass over the Brook of Arnon; see, I have given into your hand Sihon king of Heshbon, the Amorite, and his land; begin to possess [it], and stir yourself up against him [in] battle.

This [is] the day I begin to put your dread and your fear on the face of the peoples under the whole heavens, who hear your fame, and have trembled and been pained because of you.

And I send messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon, [with] words of peace, saying,

Let me pass over through your land; in the way—in the way I go, I do not turn aside [to the] right or left.

You sell me food for money, and I have eaten; and you give to me water for money, and I have drunk; only, let me pass over on my feet,

as the sons of Esau who are dwelling in Seir and the Moabites who are dwelling in Ar have done for me, until I pass over the Jordan to the land which our God YHWH is giving to us.

And Sihon king of Heshbon has not been willing to let us pass over by him, for your God YHWH has hardened his spirit and strengthened his heart, so as to give him into your hand as at this day.

And YHWH says to me, See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land before your faces; begin to possess—to possess his land.

And Sihon comes out to meet us, he and all his people, to the battle at Jahaz;

and our God YHWH gives him before our faces, and we strike him, and his sons, and all his people;

and we capture all his cities at that time, and devote the whole city—men, and the women, and the infants; we have not left a remnant;

only, we have spoiled the livestock for ourselves, and the spoil of the cities which we have captured.

From Aroer, which [is] by the edge of the Brook of Arnon, and the city which [is] by the brook, even to Gilead, there has not been a city which [is] too high for us; our God YHWH has given the whole before our faces.

Only, you have not drawn near to the land of the sons of Ammon—any part of the Brook of Jabbok, and cities of the hill-country, and anything which our God YHWH has [not] commanded.”