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¹ Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as Yahweh spoke to me; and we compassed mount Seir many days.² And Yahweh spoke to me, saying,³ You have compassed this mountain long enough: you turn northward.⁴ And you command the people, saying, You are to pass through the border of your brothers the sons of Esau, that dwell in Seir; and they will be afraid of you: you take good heed to yourselves therefore;⁵ don't contend with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on; because I have given mount Seir to Esau for a possession.⁶ You shall purchase food of them for money, that you may eat; and you shall also buy water of them for money, that you may drink.⁷ For Yahweh your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand; he has known your walking through this great wilderness: these forty years Yahweh your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.

⁸ So we passed by from our brothers the sons of Esau, that dwell in Seir, from the way of the Arabah from Elath and from Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.⁹ And Yahweh said to me, Don't vex Moab, neither contend with them in battle; for I will not give you of his land for a possession; because I have given Ar to the sons of Lot for a possession.¹⁰ (The Emim dwelt therein previously, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim:¹¹ these also are accounted Rephaim, as the Anakim; but the Moabites call them Emim.¹² The Horites also dwelt in Seir previously, but the sons of Esau succeeded them; and they destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did to the land of his possession, which Yahweh gave to them.)¹³ Now rise up, and get yourselves over the brook Zered. And we went over the brook Zered.¹⁴ And the days in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we had come over the brook Zered, were thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were consumed from the midst of the camp, as Yahweh swore to them.¹⁵ Moreover the hand of Yahweh was against them, to destroy them from the midst of the camp, until they were consumed.¹⁶ So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people,¹⁷ that Yahweh spoke to me, saying,¹⁸ You are this day to pass over Ar, the border of Moab:¹⁹ and when you come near across from the sons of Ammon, don't vex them, nor contend with them; for I will not give you of the land of the sons of Ammon for a possession; because I have given it to the sons of Lot for a possession.²⁰ (That also is accounted a land of Rephaim: Rephaim dwelt therein previously; but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim,²¹ a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim; but Yahweh destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead;²² as he did for the sons of Esau, that dwell in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even to this day:²³ and the Avvim, that dwelt in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, that came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.)

²⁴ You rise up, take your journey, and pass over the valley of the Arnon: see, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle.²⁵ This day I will begin to put the dread of you and the fear of you on the peoples that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of you.²⁶ And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,²⁷ Let me pass through your land: I will go along by the highway, I will turn neither to the right hand nor to the left.²⁸ You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink: only let me pass through on my feet,²⁹ as the sons of Esau that dwell in Seir, and the Moabites that dwell in Ar, did to me; until I shall pass over the Jordan into the land which Yahweh our God gives us.³⁰ But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him; for Yahweh your God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into your hand, as at this day.³¹ And Yahweh said to me, Look, I have begun to deliver up Sihon and his land before you: begin to possess, that you may inherit his land.³² Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz.³³ And Yahweh our God delivered him up before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people.³⁴ And we took all his cities at that time, and completely destroyed every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones; we left none remaining:³⁵ only the cattle we took for a prey to ourselves, with the spoil of the cities which we had taken.³⁶ From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and [from] the city that is in the valley, even to Gilead, there was not a city too high for us; Yahweh our God delivered up all before us:³⁷ only to the land of the sons of Ammon you did not come near; all the side of the river Jabbok, and the cities of the hill-country, and wherever Yahweh our God forbade us.