Read the Bible

Wanderings in the Wilderness

¹ "^(C1)Then we turned and set out for the wilderness by the way to the ^(F1)Red Sea, as Yahweh spoke to me, and circled ^(C2)Mount Seir for many days.² "And Yahweh spoke to me, saying,³ 'You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north,^4 (C1)and command the people, saying, "You are going to pass through the ^(C2)territory of your brothers the sons of Esau who live in Seir; and ^(C3)they will be afraid of you. So be very careful;⁵ do not ^(F1)provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, even as little as a ^(F2)footstep ^(C1)because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.⁶ "You shall buy food from them with money so that you may eat, and you shall also bargain with them for water with money so that you may drink.⁷ "For Yahweh your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand; He has known your ^(F1)wanderings through this ^(C1)great wilderness. These ^(C2)forty years Yahweh your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing."'

⁸ "So we passed beyond our brothers the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the ^(C1)Arabah road, away from Elath and ^(C2)from Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed through by the way of the wilderness of Moab.⁹ "Then Yahweh said to me, 'Do not harass Moab, nor provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of ^(F1)their land as a possession because I have given ^(C1)Ar to ^(C2)the sons of Lot as a possession.'¹⁰ (The ^(C1)Emim lived there formerly, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim.¹¹ Like the Anakim, they are also regarded as ^(C1)Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim.^12 (C1)Now the Horites formerly lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them and settled in their place, ^(C2)just as Israel would do to the land of ^(F1)their possession which Yahweh gave to them.)¹³ 'Now arise and cross over the ^(F1)brook Zered yourselves.' So we crossed over the ^(F1)brook Zered.¹⁴ "Now the ^(F1)time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the ^(F2)brook Zered was ^(C1)thirty-eight years, until ^(C2)all the generation of the men of war came to an end from within the camp, as ^(C3)Yahweh had sworn to them.¹⁵ "^(C1)Moreover the hand of Yahweh was against them, to bring them into confusion from within the camp until they all came to an end.

¹⁶ "So it happened when ^(C1)all the men of war had come to an end in death from among the people,¹⁷ that Yahweh spoke to me, saying,¹⁸ 'Today you are about to cross over ^(C1)Ar, the border of Moab.¹⁹ 'And you will come opposite the ^(C1)sons of Ammon. Do not harass them nor provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon as a possession because I have given it to ^(C2)the sons of Lot as a possession.'²⁰ (It is also regarded as the land of the ^(C1)Rephaim, for Rephaim formerly lived in it, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummin,²¹ a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim, but Yahweh destroyed them before them. And they dispossessed them and settled in their place,²² just as He did for the sons of Esau, who ^(C1)live in Seir, when He destroyed ^(C2)the Horites from before them; they dispossessed them and settled in their place even to this day.²³ And the ^(C1)Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the ^(F1)(C2)Caphtorim who came from ^(F2)(C3)Caphtor, destroyed them and lived in their place.)²⁴ 'Arise, set out, and pass through the ^(F1)(C1)valley of Arnon. Look! I have given Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land into your hand; begin to take possession and provoke him to battle.²⁵ 'This day I will begin to put ^(C1)the dread and fear of you ^(F1)upon the peoples ^(F2)everywhere under the heavens, who, when they hear the report of you, ^(C2)will tremble and be in anguish because of you.'

²⁶ "^(C1)So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,²⁷ 'Let me pass through your land, I will ^(F1)go only on the highway; I will not turn aside to the right or to the left.²⁸ 'You will sell me food for money so that I may eat, and give me water for money so that I may drink; ^(C1)only let me pass through on ^(F1)foot,²⁹ just as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in ^(C1)Ar did for me, until I cross over the Jordan into the land which Yahweh our God is giving to us.'³⁰ "But ^(C1)Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass ^(F1)through his land, for ^(C2)Yahweh your God stiffened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to give him over into your hand, as he is today.³¹ "And Yahweh said to me, 'See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land ^(F1)over to you. Begin to possess, so that you may fully possess his land.'

³² "Then Sihon ^(F1)with all his people came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz.³³ "^(C1)But Yahweh our God gave him ^(F1)over to us, and we ^(C2)struck him down with his sons and all his people.³⁴ "So we captured all his cities at that time and ^(F1)(C1)devoted to destruction ^(F2)the men, women, and little ones of every city. We left no survivor remaining.³⁵ "We took ^(C1)only the animals as our plunder and the spoil of the cities which we had captured.³⁶ "From ^(C1)Aroer which is on the edge of the ^(F1)valley of Arnon and from the city which is in the ^(F1)valley, even to Gilead, there was not a town that was too high for us; Yahweh our God gave all ^(F2)over to us.³⁷ "^(C1)Only you did not go near to the land of the sons of Ammon, all along the ^(F1)river ^(C2)Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, and wherever Yahweh our God had commanded us.