1 And we turned and departed into the wilderness, by the way of the Red Sea, as the Lord spoke to me, and we compassed Mount Seir many days. 2 And the Lord said to me, 3 Ye have compassed this mount long enough; turn therefore toward the north. 4 And charge the people, saying, Ye are going through the borders of your brethren the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir; and they shall fear you, and dread you greatly. 5 Do not engage in war against them, for I will not give you of their land even enough to set your foot upon, for I have given Mount Seir to the children of Esau as an inheritance. 6 Buy food of them for money and eat, and ye shall receive water of them by measure for money, and drink. 7 For the Lord our God has blessed thee in every work of thy hands. Consider how thou wentest through that great and terrible wilderness: behold, the Lord thy God has been with thee forty years; thou didst not lack anything.

8 And we passed by our brethren the children of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, by the way of Arabah from Elath and from Ezion-geber; and we turned and passed by the way of the desert of Moab. 9 And the Lord said to me, Do not ye quarrel with the Moabites, and do not engage in war with them; for I will not give you of their land for an inheritance, for I have given Ar to the children of Lot to inherit. 10 Formerly the Emim dwelt in it, a great and numerous nation and powerful, like the Anakim. 11 These also shall be accounted Rephaim like the Anakim; and the Moabites call them Emim. 12 And the Horite dwelt in Seir before, and the sons of Esau destroyed them, and utterly consumed them from before them; and they dwelt in their place, as Israel did to the land of his inheritance, which the Lord gave to them. 13 Now then, arise ye, said I, and depart, and cross the Valley of Zered.

14 And the days in which we traveled from Kadesh-barnea till we crossed the Valley of Zered, were thirty and eight years, until the whole generation of the men of war failed, dying out of the camp, as the Lord God swore to them. 15 And the hand of the Lord was upon them to destroy them out of the midst of the camp, until they were consumed.

16 And it came to pass when all the men of war dying out of the midst of the people had fallen, 17 that the Lord spoke to me, saying, 18 Thou shalt pass over this day the borders of Moab to Ar; 19 and ye shall draw nigh to the children of Ammon: do not quarrel with them, nor wage war with them; for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon for an inheritance, because I have given it to the children of Lot for an inheritance. 20 It shall be accounted a land of Rephaim, for the Rephaim dwelt there before, and the Ammonites call them Zamzummim. 21 A great nation and populous, and mightier than you, as also the Anakim: yet the Lord destroyed them from before them, and they inherited their land, and they dwelt there instead of them until this day. 22 As they did to the children of Esau that dwell in Seir, even as they destroyed the Horite from before them, and inherited their country, and dwelt therein instead of them until this day. 23 And the Avvim who dwell in Asedoth to Gaza, and the Cappadocians who came out of Cappadocia, destroyed them, and dwelt in their room.

24 Now then arise and depart, and pass over the Valley of Arnon: behold, I have delivered into thy hands Sihon the king of Heshbon the Amorite, and his land: begin to inherit it: engage in war with him this day. 25 Begin to put thy terror and thy fear on the face of all the nations under heaven, who shall be troubled when they have heard thy name, and shall be in anguish before thee.

26 And I sent ambassadors from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with peaceable words, saying, 27 I will pass through thy land: I will go by the road, I will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 28 Thou shalt give me food for money, and I will eat; and thou shalt give me water for money, and I will drink; I will only go through on my feet: 29 as the sons of Esau did to me, who dwelt in Seir, and the Moabites who dwelt in Ar, until I shall have passed Jordan into the land which the Lord our God gives us. 30 And Sihon king of Heshbon would not that we should pass by him, because the Lord our God hardened his spirit, and made his heart stubborn, that he might be delivered into thy hands, as on this day.

31 And the Lord said to me, Behold, I have begun to deliver before thee Sihon the king of Heshbon the Amorite, and his land, and do thou begin to inherit his land. 32 And Sihon the king of Heshbon came forth to meet us, he and all his people to war at Jahaz. 33 And the Lord our God delivered him before our face, and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people. 34 And we took possession of all his cities at that time, and we utterly destroyed every city in succession, and their wives, and their children; we left no living prey. 35 Only we took the cattle captive, and took the spoil of the cities. 36 From Aroer, which is by the brink of the brook of Arnon, and the city which is in the valley, and as far as the mount of Gilead; there was not a city which escaped us: the Lord our God delivered all of them into our hands. 37 Only we did not draw near to the children of Ammon, even all the parts bordering on the brook Jabbok, and the cities in the mountain country, as the Lord our God charged us.