1 "Then we turned back and headed into the wilderness toward the Red Sea, as the LORD had told me, and for many days we circled around the hill country of Seir.
2 Then the LORD spoke to me:
3 'You have circled this hill country long enough. Turn north.
4 Give the people this command: "You are going to pass through the territory of your relatives, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so be very careful.
5 Do not start a fight with them, for I will not give you any of their land, not so much as a place to set your foot. I have given the hill country of Seir to Esau as his possession.
6 Pay them silver for the food you eat, and pay them silver for the water you drink.
7 The LORD your God has blessed you in everything you have done. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. For these forty years the LORD your God has been with you, and you have not been in need of anything."'
8 "So we went on past our relatives, the descendants of Esau who live in Seir, leaving the Arabah road that comes up from Elath and Ezion-geber, and we turned and went along the road to the wilderness of Moab.
9 The LORD told me, 'Do not harass the Moabites or go to war with them, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession. I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as their possession.'
10 (The Emim used to live there, a people as strong, numerous, and tall as the Anakim.
11 Like the Anakim, they too were reckoned among the Rephaim, but the Moabites called them Emim.
12 The Horites also used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out, wiped them out before them, and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land the LORD gave them as their possession.)
13 'Now get up and cross the Zered Valley.' So we crossed the Zered Valley.
14 From the time we left Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley, thirty-eight years passed, until the whole generation of fighting men had died out of the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.
15 The LORD's hand was against them, to rid the camp of them, until they were all gone.
16 "When the last of the fighting men among the people had died,
17 the LORD spoke to me:
18 'Today you are to go past Ar, through the territory of Moab.
19 When you come close to the Ammonites, do not harass them or start a fight with them, for I will not give you any of the Ammonites' land as a possession. I have given it to the descendants of Lot as their possession.'
20 (That too was reckoned as a land of the Rephaim. The Rephaim used to live there, but the Ammonites called them Zamzummim,
21 a people as strong, numerous, and tall as the Anakim. The LORD wiped them out before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place,
22 as he had done for the descendants of Esau who live in Seir, when he wiped out the Horites before them. They drove them out and have lived in their place to this day.
23 And as for the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, wiped them out and settled in their place.)
24 'Get up, break camp, and cross the Arnon Valley. Look, I have handed over to you Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Start taking it over; engage him in battle.
25 Starting today I will put the terror and fear of you on all the peoples under heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble and writhe in anguish because of you.'
26 "So from the wilderness of Kedemoth I sent messengers to Sihon king of Heshbon with an offer of peace:
27 'Let me pass through your land. I will keep strictly to the road and will not turn off to the right or to the left.
28 Sell me food for silver so I can eat, and sell me water for silver so I can drink. Only let me pass through on foot,
29 as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar have done for me, until I cross the Jordan into the land the LORD our God is giving us.'
30 But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing to let us pass through his land, for the LORD your God made his spirit stubborn and his heart hard, in order to hand him over to you, as he has now done.
31 The LORD said to me, 'See, I have begun to hand Sihon and his land over to you. Start taking possession, so that his land will be yours.'
32 When Sihon and all his people came out to fight us at Jahaz,
33 the LORD our God handed him over to us, and we defeated him, his sons, and all his people.
34 At that time we captured all his cities and devoted to destruction every city, men, women, and children. We did not leave a single survivor.
35 We kept only the livestock and the plunder from the cities we had captured.
36 From Aroer, on the rim of the Arnon Valley, and the city in the valley itself, all the way to Gilead, no town was too strong for us. The LORD our God handed them all over to us.
37 But you did not go near the land of the Ammonites, the whole length of the Jabbok River, or the cities of the hill country, or any place the LORD our God had told us not to.