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Wanderings in the Wilderness

¹ "^(C1)Then we turned and set out for the wilderness by the way of the ^(F1)Red Sea, as the LORD spoke to me, and we circled ^(C2)Mount Seir for many days.² "And the LORD 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, not even as much as a ^(F2)footprint, ^(C1)because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.⁶ "You are to buy food from them with money so that you may eat, and you shall also purchase water from them with money so that you may drink.⁷ "For the LORD your God has blessed you in all ^(F1)that you have done; He has known your ^(F2)wandering through this ^(C1)great wilderness. These ^(C2)forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have not lacked anything."'

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)Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed through by the way of the wilderness of Moab.⁹ "Then the LORD said to me, 'Do not attack 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 previously, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim.¹¹ "Like the Anakim, they too are regarded as ^(C1)Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim.¹² "^(C1)The Horites previously lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before ^(F1)them, and settled in their place; ^(C2)just as Israel did to the land of ^(F2)their possession which the LORD gave them.)¹³ 'Now arise and cross over the ^(F1)Wadi Zered yourselves.' So we crossed over the ^(F1)Wadi Zered.¹⁴ "Now the ^(F1)time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the ^(F2)Wadi Zered was ^(C1)thirty-eight years, until ^(C2)all the generation of the men of war perished from within the camp, just as ^(C3)the LORD had sworn to them.¹⁵ "^(C1)Indeed, the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them from within the camp until they all perished.

¹⁶ "So it came about, when ^(C1)all the men of war had finally perished from among the people,¹⁷ that the LORD spoke to me, saying,¹⁸ 'Today you shall cross over ^(C1)Ar, the border of Moab.¹⁹ 'When you come opposite the ^(C1)sons of Ammon, do not attack 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, because the Rephaim previously lived in it, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummin,²¹ a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim; but the LORD destroyed them before ^(F1)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, where they remain even to this day.²³ "And as for 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 handed over to you Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; start taking possession and plunge into battle with him.²⁵ 'This day I will begin to put ^(C1)the dread and fear of you upon the faces of ^(F1)people everywhere, ^(F2)who, when they hear the news 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)travel only on the road. 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 that the LORD our God is giving us.'³⁰ "But ^(C1)Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass ^(F1)through his land; for the ^(C2)LORD your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to hand him over to you, as he is today.³¹ "And the LORD said to me, 'See, I have begun to turn Sihon and his land over ^(F1)to you. Begin taking possession, so that you may possess his land.'

³² "Then Sihon came out ^(F1)with all his people to meet us in battle at Jahaz.³³ "And ^(C1)the LORD our God turned him over ^(F1)to us, and we ^(F2)(C2)defeated him with his sons and all his people.³⁴ "So we captured all his cities at that time and ^(F1)(C1)utterly destroyed ^(F2)the men, women, and children of every city. We left no survivor.³⁵ "We took ^(C1)only the animals as our plunder, and the spoils 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 no city that was too ^(F2)high for us; the LORD our God turned it all over ^(F3)to us.³⁷ "^(C1)Only you did not go near the land of the sons of Ammon, all along the ^(F1)river ^(C2)Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, and wherever the LORD our God had commanded us to avoid.