1 ARST Then we turned around and went through the desert toward the Red Sea as Yahweh told us to do. We wandered in Edom for many years. BSB BSB: Then we turned back and headed for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea, as the LORD had instructed me, and for many days we wandered around Mount Seir.
2 ARST Then Yahweh said to me, BSB BSB: At this time the LORD said to me,
3 ARST ‘You have been wandering around this hilly area for a long enough time. Now turn and travel toward the north. BSB BSB: “You have been wandering around this hill country long enough; turn to the north
4 ARST And tell the people that they are about to travel near the land that belongs to the descendants of Esau,{ who are also descendants of Isaac}, as you are. They live in the hilly area of Edom. They will be afraid of you, but be very careful. BSB BSB: and command the people: ‘You will pass through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so you must be very careful.
5 ARST Do not start to fight against them, because I am not going to give you even a tiny bit of their land. That is because I have given that land to the descendants of Esau. BSB BSB: Do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even a footprint, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as his possession.
6 ARST { When you travel near their land}, buy food and water from them.’ BSB BSB: You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’”
7 ARST Remember that Yahweh our God has blessed you in everything that you have done. He knows{ what has happened to you} while you have wandered in this huge desert. Yahweh our God has protected you during those 40 years, and as a result you have had everything that you needed. BSB BSB: Indeed, the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. The LORD your God has been with you these forty years, and you have lacked nothing.
8 ARST So we continued to travel. We avoided going through the hilly area where the descendants of Esau, who are also descendants of Isaac, live. We turned from the road{ that goes along} the plain of the Jordan valley, and{ comes up} from the city of Elath and the city of Ezion Geber. We traveled along the wilderness road of the kingdom of Moab. BSB BSB: So we passed by our brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned away from the Arabah road, which comes up from Elath and Ezion-geber, and traveled along the road of the Wilderness of Moab.
10 ARST (A people group called the Emites formerly lived there. They were as populous and tall as the descendants of Anak. BSB BSB: (The Emites used to live there, a people great and many, as tall as the Anakites.
11 ARST People also call both them and the descendants of Anak the Rapha people. The people of Moab call them Emites. BSB BSB: Like the Anakites, they were also regarded as Rephaim, though the Moabites called them Emites.
12 ARST The Hor people group also formerly lived in the Edom area, but the descendants of Esau expelled them. They killed them and settled in their land, just as the Israelite people later expelled their enemies from the land that Yahweh gave to them.) BSB BSB: The Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land that the LORD gave them as their possession.)
13 ARST “Then we crossed the Zered Gorge, as Yahweh told us to do. BSB BSB: “Now arise and cross over the Brook of Zered.” So we crossed over the Brook of Zered.
14 ARST It had been 38 years from the time we first left Kadesh Barnea until we crossed the Zered Gorge. During those years, all the Israelite fighting men of that generation died, as Yahweh had solemnly said would happen. BSB BSB: The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the Brook of Zered was thirty-eight years, until that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.
15 ARST Furthermore, Yahweh opposed them, so he caused them to die. BSB BSB: Indeed, the LORD’s hand was against them, to eliminate them from the camp, until they had all perished.
16 ARST After all the men who had been old enough to fight had died, BSB BSB: Now when all the fighting men among the people had died,
17 ARST Yahweh said to me, BSB BSB: the LORD said to me,
18 ARST ‘Today you must travel through the region of Moab, near Ar, their city. BSB BSB: “Today you are going to cross the border of Moab at Ar.
20 ARST (People also call that region the land of the Rapha people, who formerly lived there. The Ammon people group call them the Zamzum group. BSB BSB: (That too was regarded as the land of the Rephaim, who used to live there, though the Ammonites called them Zamzummites.
21 ARST They were as populous and tall as the descendants of Anak. But Yahweh caused them to die when the Ammon people group expelled them and settled in their land. BSB BSB: They were a people great and many, as tall as the Anakites. But the LORD destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place,
22 ARST Yahweh had done the same thing for the descendants of Esau living in the hilly area of Edom. He caused the Hor people group to die when the Edom people group expelled them and settled in their land. The Edom people group still lives there. BSB BSB: just as He had done for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them. They drove them out and have lived in their place to this day.
24 ARST After we had gone through the region of Moab, Yahweh said to us,‘Now cross the Arnon River. Be assured that I will help you to defeat the army of Sihon. Sihon is the king of the Amor people group, who lives in the city of Heshbon. So attack their army and start to take their land from them. BSB BSB: “Arise, set out, and cross the Arnon Valley. See, I have delivered into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle.
25 ARST Today I will begin to frighten everyone, everywhere on your behalf. Then, everyone who hears about you will be very afraid of you.’ BSB BSB: This very day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon all the nations under heaven. They will hear the reports of you and tremble in anguish because of you.”
26 ARST Then I sent messengers to go from where we were in the Desert of Kedemoth to King Sihon at Heshbon.{ I told them to give him} this peaceful message: BSB BSB: So from the Wilderness of Kedemoth I sent messengers with an offer of peace to Sihon king of Heshbon, saying,
27 ARST ‘Please allow us to travel through your land.{ We promise that} we will stay on the road. We will not turn off to the right or to the left. BSB BSB: “Let us pass through your land; we will stay on the main road. We will not turn to the right or to the left.
28 ARST We will pay you for food and water. We want only to walk through your land BSB BSB: You can sell us food to eat and water to drink in exchange for silver. Only let us pass through on foot,
29 ARST until we cross the Jordan River into the land that Yahweh our God is giving to us. Do for us just as the descendants of Esau who live in the Edom area and the Moab people group who live in the city of Ar did{ for us when they allowed us to go through their land.}’ BSB BSB: just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for us, until we cross the Jordan into the land that the LORD our God is giving us.”
30 ARST But King Sihon of Heshbon would not allow us to go through his country. That is because Yahweh our God caused him to be stubborn so that Yahweh could cause us to defeat his army and take his land, in which we still live. BSB BSB: But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through, for the LORD your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate, that He might deliver him into your hand, as is the case this day.
31 ARST Yahweh said to me,‘Be assured that I am starting to allow you to defeat Sihon’ s army and to take the people’ s land from them. So start to occupy it!’ BSB BSB: Then the LORD said to me, “See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his land over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land.”
32 ARST Then Sihon and his soldiers marched out to fight against us at the town of Jahaz. BSB BSB: So Sihon and his whole army came out for battle against us at Jahaz.
33 ARST But Yahweh our God caused us to defeat them. We killed Sihon, his sons, and all his soldiers. BSB BSB: And the LORD our God delivered him over to us, and we defeated him and his sons and his whole army.
34 ARST We captured and destroyed all of King Sihon’ s cities.{ We killed} the men, women, and children. We did not allow any of them to remain alive. BSB BSB: At that time we captured all his cities and devoted to destruction the people of every city, including women and children. We left no survivors.
35 ARST However, we did take the livestock and valuable things from the cities that we captured. BSB BSB: We carried off for ourselves only the livestock and the plunder from the cities we captured.
36 ARST Yahweh our God caused us to capture all their towns from the city of Aroer in the south, which is at the edge of the Arnon River Valley, to the region of Gilead in the north. Some of their cities had walls around them, but we were still able to capture them. BSB BSB: From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the valley, even as far as Gilead, not one city had walls too high for us. The LORD our God gave us all of them.
37 ARST But we did not go near the area where the Ammon people group lives, the banks of the Jabbok River, the towns of the hilly area, or any other place where Yahweh our God told us not to go. BSB BSB: But you did not go near the land of the Ammonites, or the land along the banks of the Jabbok River, or the cities of the hill country, or any place that the LORD our God had forbidden.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.