Deuteronomy 2

Instructions Regarding Edom Deuteronomy 2:4–6

⁴Verse 4. Command the people, saying, ‘You are to pass through the border of your brothers the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. Therefore be careful. ⁵Verse 5. Don’t contend with them; for I will not give you any 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. ⁶Verse 6. You shall purchase food from them for money, that you may eat. You shall also buy water from them for money, that you may drink.’”

God's Provision in the Wilderness Deuteronomy 2:7–8

⁷Verse 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. ⁸Verse 8. So we passed by from our brothers the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, from the way of the Arabah from Elath and from Ezion Geber. We turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.

Instructions Regarding Moab Deuteronomy 2:9–12

⁹Verse 9. Yahweh said to me, “Don’t bother Moab, neither contend with them in battle; for I will not give you any of his land for a possession; because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for a possession.” ¹⁰Verse 10. (The Emim lived therein before, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim. ¹¹Verse 11. These also are considered to be Rephaim, as the Anakim; but the Moabites call them Emim. ¹²Verse 12. The Horites also lived in Seir before, but the children of Esau succeeded them. They destroyed them from before them, and lived in their place; as Israel did to the land of his possession, which Yahweh gave to them.)

End of the Old Generation Deuteronomy 2:13–15

¹³Verse 13. “Now rise up, and cross over the brook Zered.” We went over the brook Zered. ¹⁴Verse 14. The days in which we came from Kadesh Barnea, until we had come over the brook Zered, were thirty-eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were consumed from the middle of the camp, as Yahweh swore to them. ¹⁵Verse 15. Moreover Yahweh’s hand was against them, to destroy them from the middle of the camp, until they were consumed.

Instructions Regarding Ammon and Historical Background Deuteronomy 2:16–23

¹⁶Verse 16. So, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people, ¹⁷Verse 17. Yahweh spoke to me, saying, ¹⁸Verse 18. “You are to pass over Ar, the border of Moab, today. ¹⁹Verse 19. When you come near the border of the children of Ammon, don’t bother them, nor contend with them; for I will not give you any of the land of the children of Ammon for a possession; because I have given it to the children of Lot for a possession.” ²⁰Verse 20. (That also is considered a land of Rephaim: Rephaim lived there before; but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, ²¹Verse 21. a great people, many, and tall, as the Anakim; but Yahweh destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and lived in their place;

²²Verse 22. as he did for the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them; and they succeeded them, and lived in their place even to this day: ²³Verse 23. and the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and lived in their place.)

Conflict with Sihon and Victory Deuteronomy 2:24–37

²⁴Verse 24. “Rise up, take your journey, and pass over the valley of the Arnon: behold, 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. ²⁵Verse 25. Today I will begin to put the dread of you and the fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole sky, who shall hear the report of you, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of you.” ²⁶Verse 26. I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, ²⁷Verse 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.

²⁸Verse 28. You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink. Just let me pass through on my feet, ²⁹Verse 29. as the children of Esau who dwell in Seir, and the Moabites who dwell in Ar, did to me; until I pass over the Jordan into the land which Yahweh our God gives us.” ³⁰Verse 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 it is today. ³¹Verse 31. Yahweh said to me, “Behold, I have begun to deliver up Sihon and his land before you. Begin to possess, that you may inherit his land.”

³²Verse 32. Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz. ³³Verse 33. Yahweh our God delivered him up before us; and we struck him, his sons, and all his people. ³⁴Verse 34. We took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones. We left no one remaining. ³⁵Verse 35. Only the livestock we took for plunder for ourselves, with the plunder of the cities which we had taken. ³⁶Verse 36. From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and 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.

³⁷Verse 37. Only to the land of the children of Ammon you didn’t come near; all the banks of the river Jabbok, and the cities of the hill country, and wherever Yahweh our God forbade us.