1Then we turned back and set out into the wilderness, by the way of the Red sea, as the LORD had told me. We went round mount Seir for many days.
2And the LORD said to me,
3"You have gone round this mountain long enough. Now turn to the north."
4And give this command to the people: 'You are going to pass through the land of your brothers, the children of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you. So be very careful.'
5Do not fight with them. I will not give you any of their land, not even a foot of it, because I have given mount Seir to Esau as his own.
6You shall buy food from them with money, so that you may eat. You shall also buy water from them with money, so that you may drink.
7"For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your walking through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing."
8So we passed by our brothers, the children of Esau, who live in Seir. We went along the way of the plain from Elath and from Eziongaber. Then we turned and went by the way of the wilderness of Moab.
9And the LORD said to me, "Do not trouble the Moabites, and do not fight against them in battle. I will not give you any of their land as your own, because I have given Ar to the children of Lot as their own."
10The Emims lived there in times past, a people great and many and tall, like the Anakims.
11They were counted as giants too, like the Anakims, but the Moabites call them Emims.
12The Horims also lived in Seir long ago, but the children of Esau took their place. They destroyed them and lived where they had lived. Israel did the same in the land the LORD gave them to own.
13"Now get up," I said, "and cross over the brook Zered." So we went over the brook Zered.
14The time from when we left Kadeshbarnea until we crossed the brook Zered was thirty-eight years. By then the whole generation of the men of war had died out from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.
15For indeed the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them from the camp, until they were all gone.
16So when all the men of war among the people were gone and dead,
17the LORD said to me,
18"Today you are to pass through Ar, the border of Moab."
19"And when you come near the children of Ammon, do not trouble them, and do not fight with them. I will not give you any of the land of the children of Ammon to own, because I have given it to the children of Lot as their own."
20(That land also was counted as a land of giants. Giants lived there long ago, and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims.
21They were a people great and many and tall, like the Anakims. But the LORD destroyed them before the Ammonites, who took their place and lived where they had lived.
22He did the same for the children of Esau, who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horims before them. They took their place and have lived there to this day.
23And the Avims, who lived in Hazerim as far as Azzah, were destroyed by the Caphtorims, who came out of Caphtor, and they lived where the Avims had lived.)
24"Get up, set out, and cross over the river Arnon. Look, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take it, and fight against him in battle."
25"Today I will begin to put the dread and fear of you on the nations under the whole heaven. They will hear the report of you, and they will tremble and be in anguish because of you."
26And I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace. They said,
27"Let me pass through your land. I will keep to the main road. I will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left."
28You shall sell me food for money, so that I may eat, and give me water for money, so that I may drink. Only let me pass through on foot,
29"as the children of Esau who live in Seir did for me, and the Moabites who live in Ar, until I cross over Jordan into the land which the LORD our God is giving us."
30But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him. For the LORD your God made his spirit hard and his heart stubborn, so that he might give him into your hand, as you see this day.
31And the LORD said to me, "Look, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to take it, so that you may have his land for your own."
32Then Sihon came out against us with all his people, to fight at Jahaz.
33And the LORD our God gave him over to us. We struck him down, and his sons, and all his people.
34At that time we took all his cities. We completely destroyed the men, the women and the little ones of every city. We left no one alive.
35We took only the cattle for ourselves, and the goods from the cities we captured.
36From Aroer, which is on the edge of the river of Arnon, and from the city by the river, as far as Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us. The LORD our God gave them all to us.
37You only did not go near the land of the children of Ammon, or any place along the river Jabbok, or the cities in the mountains, or anywhere the LORD our God forbade us.