OET-RV DEU Chapter 2

2 “Then we turned and went back into the wilderness towards the Red Sea as Yahweh had told us to do, and we spent a long time wandering around Mt. Seir.[ref]

2 “Then Yahweh told me, 3 ‘You’ve all been wandering around this hilly area for long enough—now turn and go towards the north 4 and tell the people, “You’ll all be crossing the border into Seir where your relatives, Esau’s descendants, live. They’ll be afraid of you but you’ll all need to stay very alert.[ref] 5 Don’t attack them because I won’t give you any of their land—not even a footprint size piece because I’ve given Mt. Seir to Esau as their inheritance. 6 Any food or drink you get from them must be paid for with cash 7 because your god Yahweh has blessed all of your labour—he’s always been aware of your travel through that vast wilderness. Your god Yahweh has helped you for those forty years so you’ve all had everything you need.” ’

8 “So we passed by our relatives, Esau’s descendants who live in Seir. We travelled along the Yorden valley plain from Eilat and Estyon-Gever, then north through the Moav wilderness. 9 Then Yahweh told me, ‘Don’t aggrevate Moav, and don’t attack them, because I won’t give you any of their land because I’ve given Ar to the sons of Lot, as a possession.’ ”[ref]

10 (The Emites had lived their previously—there were many of them, and they were tall and strong like the Anakites. 11 People also call both the Emites and the Anakites, Refa’ites but the people of Moav call them Emites. 12 The Horites had previously lived in Seir, but Esau’s descendants had killed them and taken over their land, just like the Israelis did later in the land that Yahweh had given them to possess.)

13 “Then we crossed the Zered brook as Yahweh had told us to do. 14 It had been thirty-eight years since we first left Kadesh-Barnea until we cross the Zered brook, once that generation of warriors had died off, just as Yahweh had told them.[ref] 15 What’s more, Yahweh had opposed them, so he’d caused them to die.

16 “After all the enlistment-aged men had died, 17 Yahweh told me, 18 ‘Today you must travel through the Moav region, near Ar, 19 and when you approach the Ammonite region, don’t irritate or fight them because I won’t give you any of their land because I’ve given it to Lot’s descendants as a possession.’ ”[ref]

20 (Also, it’s regarded as the land of the Refa’ites, who the Ammonites call the Zamzummites, who lived there in the past. 21 They were as numerous, and as tall and strong as the Anakites, but Yahweh destroyed them in advance of the Anakites who then dispossessed them and lived in their place. 22 He had done the same thing for Esau’s descendants who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites ahead of them, and they took over their land and still live there to this day. 23 Also the Avvites who lived in villages as far south as Azzah (Gaza) were destroyed by the Kaftorites who came from Crete, and then lived in their place.)

24 “Yahweh had told us, ‘Get ready now and go through the Arnon river valley. I’ll help you defeat the Amorite King Sihon from Heshbon. Attack him and begin to take over his land. 25 Beginning today, I’ll make everyone, everywhere afraid of you. Everyone who hears about you will be terrified and keep their distance from you.’

26 “Then from the Kedemot wilderness, I sent messengers to King Sihon at Heshbon with an offer of peace, 27 ‘Please let us travel through your country. We’ll stay on the road 28 if you’d be able to just sell us some food and water, then we could just walk right through 29 until we cross the Yorden river into the land that our god Yahweh is giving us. Easu’s descendants at Seir allowed us through, as did the Moabites at Ar.’

30 “However, Heshbon’s King Sihon wouldn’t let us go through his country because your god Yahweh had hardened his spirit and made him stubborn so that you could take his land, which we still have to this day.

31 “Yahweh told me, ‘Listen, I’ve begun to give Sihon and his land to you, so enter it and take it. 32 Then King Sihon and all his warriors came out against us at Yahats, 33 but our god Yahweh helped us to defeat him, and we killed Sihon and his son, and all his people. 34 We captured all his cities at that time, and completely destroyed men, women and children in every city, leaving no survivors. 35 Only the cattle were taken as plunder for ourselves, along with the goods in the cities we captured. 36 Our god Yahweh helped us to capture all their towns from Aroer in the south at the edge of the Arnon River valley, to the Gilead region in the north—none of their city walls were too high for us. 37 However, you didn’t go near the Ammonite region, the Yabok river area, the hill country towns, or any other place where our god Yahweh told us not to go.