Deuteronomy 2:1-15 ▼

1 Then we turned back and headed for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea (the Sea of Reeds), as the LORD {YHWH} had instructed me, and for many days we wandered around Mount Seir (shaggy).

2 At this time the LORD {YHWH} said to me,

3 “You⁺ have been wandering around this hill country long enough; turn to the north

4 and command the people: ‘You⁺ will pass through the territory of your⁺ brothers, the descendants of Esau (hairy), who live in Seir (shaggy). They will be afraid of you⁺, so you⁺ must be very careful.

5 Do not provoke them, for I will not give you⁺ any of their land, not even a footprint, because I have given Mount Seir (shaggy) to Esau (hairy) as his possession.

6 You⁺ are to pay them in silver for the food you⁺ eat and the water you⁺ drink.’”

7 Indeed, the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheka} 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 So we passed by our brothers, the descendants of Esau (hairy), who live in Seir (shaggy). We turned away from the Arabah road, which comes up from Elath (grove of lofty trees) and Ezion-geber (backbone), and traveled along the road of the Wilderness of Moab (of his father).

9 Then the LORD {YHWH} said to me, “Do not harass the Moabites (of his father) or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, because I have given Ar (a city) to the descendants of Lot (covering) as their possession.”

10 (The Emites (terrors) used to live there, a people great and many, as tall as the Anakites (long-necked).

11 Like the Anakites (long-necked), they were also regarded as Rephaim, though the Moabites (from father: what father?) called them Emites (terrors).

12 The Horites (cave dweller) used to live in Seir (shaggy), but the descendants of Esau (hairy) drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel (he wrestles with God) did in the land that the LORD {YHWH} gave them as their possession.)

13 “Now arise and cross over the Brook of Zered (osier brook).” So we crossed over the Brook of Zered.

14 The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea (holy) until we crossed over the Brook of Zered (osier brook) was thirty-eight years, until that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the LORD {YHWH} had sworn to them.

15 Indeed, the LORD’s {YHWH} hand was against them, to eliminate them from the camp, until they had all perished.