Deuteronomy 2:4-19

Contemporary English Version

⁴^(A) And give the people these orders: “Be very careful, because you will soon go through the land that belongs to your relatives, the descendants of Esau.^[a] They are afraid of you, ⁵but don't start a war with them. I have given them the hill country of Seir, so I won't give any of it to you, not even enough to set a foot on. ⁶And as you go through their land, you will have to buy food and water from them.”

⁷The Lord has helped us and taken care of us during the past 40 years that we have been in this huge desert. We've had everything we needed, and the Lord has blessed us and made us successful in whatever we have done.

⁸We went past the territory that belonged to our relatives, the descendants of Esau.^[b] We followed Arabah Road that starts in the south at Elath and Ezion-Geber, then we turned onto the desert road that leads to Moab.

⁹^(B) The Lord told me, “Don't try to start a war with Moab. Leave them alone, because I gave the land of Ar^[c] to them,^[d] and I will not let you have any of it.”

Tribes That Lived near Canaan

¹⁰Before the Lord gave the Moabites their land, a large and powerful tribe lived there. They were the Emim, and they were as tall as the Anakim. ¹¹The Moabites called them Emim, though others sometimes used the name Rephaim^[e] for both the Anakim and the Emim.

¹²The Horites used to live in Seir, but the Edomites^[f] took over that region. They killed many of the Horites and forced the rest of them to leave, just as Israel did to the people in the land that the Lord gave them.

Israel Crossed the Zered Gorge

Moses said to Israel:

¹³When we came to the Zered Gorge along the southern border of Moab, the Lord told us to cross the gorge into Moab, and we did. ¹⁴^(C) This was 38 years after we left Kadesh-Barnea, and by that time all the men who had been in the army at Kadesh-Barnea had died, just as the Lord had said they would. ^15-16The Lord kept getting rid of^[g] them until finally none of them were left.

¹⁷Then the Lord told me, ¹⁸“Moses, now go past the town of Ar and cross Moab's northern border ¹⁹^(D) into Ammon. But don't start a war with the Ammonites. I gave them^[h] their land, and I won't give any of it to Israel.”

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Footnotes

2.4 your relatives, the descendants of Esau: Esau was the brother of Jacob, the ancestor of the nation of Israel. Esau's descendants were also known as the nation of Edom.
2.8 We went past … Esau: According to Numbers 20.14-21, the king of Edom did not let the Israelites go through his land.
2.9 Ar: One of the main cities of Moab (see Numbers 21.28); sometimes it may have stood for the whole territory of Moab.
2.9 them: The Hebrew text has “the descendants of Lot”; the nation of Moab descended from Moab, who was the son of Lot, the nephew of Abraham.
2.10,11 Emim … Anakim … Rephaim: These may refer to a group or groups of very tall people that lived in or near Palestine before the Israelites (see also Numbers 13.33).
2.12 Edomites: The Hebrew text has “the descendants of Esau,” who became the nation of Edom.
2.15,16 getting rid of: Or “sending diseases on.”
2.19 them: The Hebrew text has “descendants of Lot”; the nation of Ammon descended from Benammi, who was the son of Lot, the nephew of Abraham.