Wanderings in the Wilderness

1Then 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. 2And the LORD spoke to me, saying, 3You have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward. 4And command you the people, saying, You are to pass through the coast of your brothers the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take you good heed to yourselves therefore: 5Meddle 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. 6You shall buy meat of them for money, that you may eat; and you shall also buy water of them for money, that you may drink. 7For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the works of your hand: he knows your walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.

8And when we passed by from our brothers the children of Esau, which dwelled in Seir, through the way of the plain from Elath, and from Eziongaber, we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab. 9And the LORD said to me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give you of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for a possession. 10The Emims dwelled therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; 11Which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites called them Emims. 12The Horims also dwelled in Seir beforetime; but the children of Esau succeeded them, when they had destroyed them from before them, and dwelled in their stead; as Israel did to the land of his possession, which the LORD gave to them. 13Now rise up, said I, and get you over the brook Zered. And we went over the brook Zered. 14And the space in which we came from Kadeshbarnea, until we were come over the brook Zered, was thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the LORD swore to them. 15For indeed the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them from among the host, until they were consumed.

16So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people, 17That the LORD spoke to me, saying, 18You are to pass over through Ar, the coast of Moab, this day: 19And when you come near over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give you 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 dwelled therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims; 21A people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; but the LORD destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelled in their stead: 22As he did to the children of Esau, which dwelled in Seir, when he destroyed the Horims from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelled in their stead even to this day: 23And the Avims which dwelled in Hazerim, even to Azzah, the Caphtorims, which came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelled in their stead.)

King Sihon Defeated

24Rise you up, take your journey, and pass over the river 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. 25This day will I begin to put the dread of you and the fear of you on the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of you, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of you.

26And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, 27Let me pass through your land: I will go along by the high way, I will neither turn to the right hand nor to the left. 28You shall sell me meat 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 which dwell in Seir, and the Moabites which dwell in Ar, did to me;) until I shall pass over Jordan into the land which the LORD our God gives us. 30But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the LORD your God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into your hand, as appears this day. 31And the LORD said to me, Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land before you: begin to possess, that you may inherit his land.

32Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz. 33And the LORD our God delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people. 34And 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: 35Only the cattle we took for a prey to ourselves, and the spoil of the cities which we took. 36From 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: 37Only to the land of the children of Ammon you came not, nor to any place of the river Jabbok, nor to the cities in the mountains, nor to whatever the LORD our God forbade us.