5.Mose 2 | New International Reader’s Version

Israel wanders in the desert

1 We turned back and started out towards the desert. We went along the road that leads to the Red Sea. That’s how the LORD had directed me. For a long time we made our way around the hill country of Seir. 2 Then the LORD spoke to me. He said, 3 ‘You have made your way around this hill country long enough. So now turn north. 4 Here are the orders I want you to give the people. Tell them, “You are about to pass through the territory of your relatives. They are from the family line of Esau. They live in Seir. They will be afraid of you. But be very careful. 5 Do not make them angry. If you do, they will go to war against you. I will not give you any of their land. You will not have even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau’s people the hill country of Seir as their own. 6 Pay them with silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.” ’ 7 The LORD your God has blessed you in everything your hands have done. He watched over you when you travelled through that huge desert. For these 40 years the LORD your God has been with you. So you have had everything you need. 8 We went on past our relatives. They are from the family line of Esau. They live in Seir. We turned away from the Arabah Valley road. It comes up from Elath and Ezion Geber. We travelled along the desert road of Moab. 9 Then the LORD said to me, ‘Do not attack the Moabites. Do not even make them angry. If you do, they will go to war against you. I will not give you any part of their land. I have given Moab to the people in the family line of Lot. I have given it to them as their own.’ 10 The Emites used to live there. They were strong people. There were large numbers of them. They were as tall as the Anakites. 11 Like the Anakites, they too were thought of as Rephaites. But the Moabites called them Emites. 12 The Horites used to live in Seir. But the people of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites to make room for themselves. Then they settled in their territory. They did just as Israel has done in the land the LORD gave them as their own. 13 The LORD said, ‘Now get up. Go across the Zered Valley.’ So we went across it. 14 Between the time we left Kadesh Barnea and the time we went across the Zered Valley, 38 years had passed. By then, all the fighting men who had been in our camp from the beginning had died. The LORD had warned them that it would happen. 15 He used his power against them until he had got rid of all of them. Not one was left in the camp. 16 Finally, the last of the fighting men among the people died. 17 Then the LORD said to me, 18 ‘Today you must pass near the border of Moab. Moab is also called Ar. 19 When you come to the Ammonites, do not attack them. Do not make them angry. If you do, they will go to war against you. I will not give you any of their land as your own. I have given it to the people in the family line of Lot. I have given it to them as their own.’ 20 That land was also thought of as a land of the Rephaites. They used to live there. But the Ammonites called them Zamzummites. 21 The Rephaites were strong people. There were large numbers of them. They were as tall as the Anakites. The LORD destroyed the Rephaites to make room for the Ammonites. So the Ammonites drove them out. Then they settled in the territory of the Rephaites. 22 The LORD had done the same thing for the people of Esau. They lived in Seir. The LORD destroyed the Horites to make room for Esau’s people. They drove the Horites out. So the people of Esau have lived in Seir in the territory of the Horites to this very day. 23 The Avvites lived in villages as far away as Gaza. But people came from Crete and destroyed the Avvites. Then the people of Crete made their home in the territory of the Avvites.

Israel wins the battle over Sihon

24 The LORD said, ‘Start out and go across the valley of the River Arnon. I have handed Sihon over to you. He is the Amorite king of Heshbon. I have also given you his country. Begin to take it as your own. Go to war against him. 25 This very day I will bring fear and terror on all the nations because of you. They will hear about you. They will tremble with fear. Pain and suffering will grip them because of you.’ 26 I sent messengers from the Desert of Kedemoth. I told them to go to Sihon, the king of Heshbon. They offered him peace. They said, 27 ‘Let us pass through your country. We’ll stay on the main road. We won’t turn off it to one side or the other. 28 We’ll pay you the right amount of silver for food to eat and water to drink. Just let us walk through your country. 29 The people of Esau, who live in Seir, allowed us to do that. The people of Moab, who live in Ar, also allowed us to do it. So let us walk through until we go across the River Jordan. Then we’ll be able to go into the land the LORD our God is giving us.’ 30 But Sihon, the king of Heshbon, refused to let us walk through. The LORD your God had made him stubborn in his heart and spirit. The LORD wanted to hand him over to you. And that’s exactly what he has done. 31 The LORD said to me, ‘I have begun to hand Sihon and his country over to you. So begin the battle to take his land as your own.’ 32 Sihon and his whole army came out to fight against us at Jahaz. 33 But the LORD our God handed him over to us. We struck him down together with his sons and his whole army. 34 At that time we took all his towns. We completely destroyed them. We killed all the men, women and children. We didn’t leave any of them alive. 35 But we took for ourselves the livestock and everything else from the towns we had captured. 36 Not a single town was too strong for us. That includes all the towns from Aroer on the rim of the River Arnon valley all the way to Gilead. It also includes the town in the valley. The LORD our God gave us all of them. 37 And you obeyed the LORD’s command. You didn’t go near any part of the land of the Ammonites. That includes the land along the River Jabbok. It also includes the land around the towns in the hills.

English Standard Version

The Wilderness Years

1 “Then we turned and journeyed into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea, as the Lord told me. And for many days we traveled around Mount Seir. 2 Then the Lord said to me, 3 ‘You have been traveling around this mountain country long enough. Turn northward 4 and command the people, “You are about to pass through the territory of your brothers, the people of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful. 5 Do not contend with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. 6 You shall purchase food from them with money, that you may eat, and you shall also buy water from them with money, that you may drink. 7 For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.”’ 8 So we went on, away from our brothers, the people of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the Arabah road from Elath and Ezion-geber. “And we turned and went in the direction of the wilderness of Moab. 9 And the Lord said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab or contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land for a possession, because I have given Ar to the people of Lot for a possession.’ 10 (The Emim formerly lived there, a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim. 11 Like the Anakim they are also counted as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim. 12 The Horites also lived in Seir formerly, but the people of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them and settled in their place, as Israel did to the land of their possession, which the Lord gave to them.) 13 ‘Now rise up and go over the brook Zered.’ So we went over the brook Zered. 14 And the time from our leaving Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until the entire generation, that is, the men of war, had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them. 15 For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from the camp, until they had perished. 16 “So as soon as all the men of war had perished and were dead from among the people, 17 the Lord said to me, 18 ‘Today you are to cross the border of Moab at Ar. 19 And when you approach the territory of the people of Ammon, do not harass them or contend with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot for a possession.’ 20 (It is also counted as a land of Rephaim. Rephaim formerly lived there—but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim— 21 a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim; but the Lord destroyed them before the Ammonites,* and they dispossessed them and settled in their place, 22 as he did for the people of Esau, who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites before them and they dispossessed them and settled in their place even to this day. 23 As for the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and settled in their place.) 24 ‘Rise up, set out on your journey and go over the Valley of the Arnon. Behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession, and contend with him in battle. 25 This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.’

The Defeat of King Sihon

26 “So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon the king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying, 27 ‘Let me pass through your land. I will go only by the road; I will turn aside neither to the right nor to the left. 28 You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat, and give me water for money, that I may drink. Only let me pass through on foot, 29 as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me, until I go over the Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is giving to us.’ 30 But Sihon the 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 give him into your hand, as he is this day. 31 And the Lord said to me, ‘Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to take possession, that you may occupy his land.’ 32 Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz. 33 And the Lord our God gave him over to us, and we defeated him and his sons and all his people. 34 And we captured all his cities at that time and devoted to destruction* every city, men, women, and children. We left no survivors. 35 Only the livestock we took as spoil for ourselves, with the plunder of the cities that we captured. 36 From Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, as far as Gilead, there was not a city too high for us. The Lord our God gave all into our hands. 37 Only to the land of the sons of Ammon you did not draw near, that is, to all the banks of the river Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, whatever the Lord our God had forbidden us.

5.Mose 2 | New International Reader’s Version English Standard Version

Israel wanders in the desert

Israel wins the battle over Sihon

The Wilderness Years

The Defeat of King Sihon