2Then we turned around and went back into the wilderness following the route to the Red Sea, as GOD had instructed me. We worked our way in and around the hills of Seir for a long, long time.H6437H5265H4057H1870H5488H3220H3068H1696H5437H2022H8165H7227H3117

2Then GOD said,H3068H559H559

3"You've been going around in circles in these hills long enough; go north.H5437H2022H7227H6437H6828

4Command the people, You're about to cut through the land belonging to your relatives, the People of Esau who settled in Seir. They are terrified of you, but restrain yourselves.H6680H5971H559H5674H1366H251H1121H6215H3427H8165H3372H3966H8104

5Don't try and start a fight. I am not giving you so much as a square inch of their land. I've already given all the hill country of Seir to Esau—he owns it all.H1624H5414H776H7272H4096H3709H5414H2022H8165H6215H3425

6Pay them up front for any food or water you get from them."H7666H400H3701H398H3739H4325H3701H8354

7GOD, your God, has blessed you in everything you have done. He has guarded you in your travels through this immense wilderness. For forty years now, GOD, your God, has been right here with you. You haven't lacked one thing.H3068H430H1288H4639H3027H3045H3212H1419H4057H705H8141H3068H430H2637H1697

8So we detoured around our brothers, the People of Esau who live in Seir, avoiding the Arabah Road that comes up from Elath and Ezion Geber; instead we used the road through the Wilderness of Moab.H5674H251H1121H6215H3427H8165H1870H6160H359H6100H6437H5674H1870H4057H4124

9GOD told me, "And don't try to pick a fight with the Moabites. I am not giving you any of their land. I've given ownership of Ar to the People of Lot."H3068H559H6696H4124H1624H4421H5414H776H3425H5414H6144H1121H3876H3425

10The Emites (Monsters) used to live there—mobs of hulking giants, like Anakites.H368H3427H6440H5971H1419H7227H7311H6062

11Along with the Anakites they were lumped in with the Rephaites (Ghosts) but in Moab they were called Emites.H1992H2803H7497H6062H4125H7121H368

12Horites also used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau took over and destroyed them, the same as Israel did in the land GOD gave them to possess.H2752H3427H8165H6440H1121H6215H3423H8045H6440H3427H3478H6213H776H3425H3068H5414

13GOD said, "It's time now to cross the Brook Zered." So we crossed the Brook Zered.H6965H5674H5158H2218H5674H5158H2218

14It took us thirty-eight years to get from Kadesh Barnea to the Brook Zered. That's how long it took for the entire generation of soldiers from the camp to die off, as GOD had sworn they would.H3117H1980H6947H5674H5158H2218H7970H8083H8141H1755H582H4421H8552H7130H4264H3068H7650

15GOD was relentless against them until the last one was gone from the camp.H3027H3068H2000H7130H4264H8552

16When the last of these soldiers had died,H582H4421H8552H4191H7130H5971

17GOD said to me,H3068H1696H559

18"This is the day you cut across the territory of Moab, at Ar.H5674H6144H1366H4124H3117

19When you approach the People of Ammon, don't try and pick a fight with them because I'm not giving you any of the land of the People of Ammon for yourselves—I've already given it to the People of Lot."H7126H4136H1121H5983H6696H1624H5414H776H1121H5983H3425H5414H1121H3876H3425

20It is also considered to have once been the land of the Rephaites. Rephaites lived there long ago—the Ammonites called them Zamzummites (Barbarians)—H2803H776H7497H7497H3427H6440H5984H7121H2157

21huge mobs of them, giants like the Anakites. GOD destroyed them and the Ammonites moved in and took over.H5971H1419H7227H7311H6062H3068H8045H6440H3423H3427

22It was the same with the People of Esau who live in Seir—GOD got rid of the Horites who lived there earlier and they moved in and took over, as you can see.H6213H1121H6215H3427H8165H8045H2752H6440H3423H3427H3117

23Regarding the Avvites who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorites who came from Caphtor (Crete) wiped them out and moved in.H5761H3427H2699H5804H3732H3318H3731H8045H3427

24"On your feet now. Get started. Cross the Brook Arnon. Look: Here's Sihon the Amorite king of Heshbon and his land. I'm handing it over to you—it's all yours. Go ahead take it. Go to war with him.H6965H5265H5674H5158H769H7200H5414H3027H5511H567H4428H2809H776H2490H3423H1624H4421

25Before the day is out, I'll make sure that all the people around here are thoroughly terrified. Rumors of you are going to spread like wildfire; they'll totally panic."H3117H2490H5414H6343H3374H6440H5971H8064H8085H8088H7264H2342H6440

26From the Wilderness of Kedemoth, I sent messengers to Sihon, king of Heshbon. They carried a friendly message:H7971H4397H4057H6932H5511H4428H2809H1697H7965H559

27"Let me cross through your land on the highway. I'll stay right on the highway; I won't trespass right or left.H5674H776H3212H1870H1870H5493H3225H8040

28I'll pay you for any food or water we might need. Let me walk through.H7666H400H3701H398H5414H4325H3701H8354H5674H7272

29"The People of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did this, helping me on my way until I can cross the Jordan and enter the land that GOD, our God, is giving us."H1121H6215H3427H8165H4125H3427H6144H6213H5674H3383H776H3068H430H5414

30But Sihon king of Heshbon wouldn't let us cross his land. GOD, your God, turned his spirit mean and his heart hard so he could hand him over to you, as you can see that he has done.H5511H4428H2809H14H5674H3068H430H7185H7307H3824H553H5414H3027H3117

31Then GOD said to me, "Look, I've got the ball rolling—Sihon and his land are soon yours. Go ahead. Take it. It's practically yours!"H3068H559H7200H2490H5414H5511H776H6440H2490H3423H3423H776

32So Sihon and his entire army confronted us in battle at Jahaz.H5511H3318H7125H5971H4421H3096

33GOD handed him, his sons, and his entire army over to us and we utterly crushed them.H3068H430H5414H6440H5221H1121H5971

34While we were at it we captured all his towns and totally destroyed them, a holy destruction—men, women, and children. No survivors.H3920H5892H6256H2763H4962H802H2945H5892H7604H8300

35We took the livestock and the plunder from the towns we had captured and carried them off for ourselves.H929H962H7998H5892H3920

36From Aroer on the edge of the Brook Arnon and the town in the gorge, as far as Gilead, not a single town proved too much for us; GOD, our God, gave every last one of them to us.H6177H8193H5158H769H5892H5158H1568H7151H7682H3068H430H5414H6440

37The only land you didn't take, obeying GOD's command, was the land of the People of Ammon, the land along the Jabbok and around the cities in the hills.H776H1121H5983H7126H3027H5158H2999H5892H2022H3068H430H6680