Read the Bible

¹ Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea, as the LORD spoke to me: and we compassed mount Seir many days.² And the LORD spoke to me, saying,³ Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward.⁴ And command thou the people, saying, Ye [are] to pass through the border of your brethren the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir; and they will be afraid of you: therefore take ye good heed to yourselves:⁵ Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot-breadth; because I have given mount Seir to Esau [for] a possession.⁶ Ye shall buy food of them for money, that ye may eat; and ye shall also buy water of them for money, that ye may drink.⁷ For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God [hath been] with thee: thou hast lacked nothing.

⁸ And when we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, through the way of the plain from Elath, and from Ezion-gaber, we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.⁹ And the LORD said to me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of their land [for] a possession; because I have given Ar to the children of Lot [for] a possession.¹⁰ (The Emims dwelt in it in times past, a people great, and many, and tall as the Anakims;¹¹ Who also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims.¹² The Horims also dwelt formerly in Seir, but the children of Esau succeeded them, when they had destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did to the land of his possession, which the LORD gave to them.)¹³ Now rise, [said I], and pass over the brook Zered: and we went over the brook Zered.¹⁴ And the space in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we passed the brook Zered, [was] thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were wasted from among the host, as the LORD swore to them.¹⁵ For indeed the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them from among the host, 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 the LORD spoke to me, saying,¹⁸ Thou art to pass over through Ar, the coast of Moab, this day:¹⁹ And [when] thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon [any] possession; because I have given it to the children of Lot [for] a possession.²⁰ (That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt in it in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims;²¹ A people great, and many, and tall as the Anakims; but the LORD destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead:²² As he did to the children of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, when he destroyed the Horims from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even to this day:²³ And the Avims who dwelt in Hazerim [even] to Azzah, the Caphtorims, who came forth from Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.)

²⁴ Arise ye, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thy hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess [it], and contend with him in battle.²⁵ This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations [that are] under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee.²⁶ And I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,²⁷ Let me pass through thy land: I will go along by the highway, I will neither turn to the right hand nor to the left.²⁸ Thou shalt sell me food for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink: only I will pass through on my feet;²⁹ (As the children of Esau who dwell in Seir, and the Moabites who dwell in Ar, did to me;) until I shall pass over Jordan into the land which the LORD our God giveth us.³⁰ But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the LORD thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as [appeareth] this day.³¹ And the LORD said to me, Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land before thee: begin to possess, that thou mayest inherit his land.³² Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz.³³ And the LORD our God delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people.³⁴ And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones of every city, we left none to remain.³⁵ Only the cattle we took for a prey to ourselves, and the spoil of the cities which we took.³⁶ From Aroer, which [is] by the brink of the river of Arnon, and [from] the city that [is] by the river, even to Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us: the LORD our God delivered all to us:³⁷ Only to the land of the children of Ammon thou camest not, [nor] to any place of the river Jabbok, nor to the cities on the mountains, nor to whatever the LORD our God forbad us.