Deuteronomy 2 - Lexham English Bible (LEB)

2 “Then we turned and set out toward the wilderness^[a] in the direction of the Red Sea,^[b] as Yahweh told me, and we went around Mount Seir for many days. ² Yahweh spoke to me, saying,^{[c] 3} ‘Long enough you have been skirting this mountain; turn yourselves north, ⁴ and instruct^[d] the people, saying,^[e] “You are about to cross through the territory of your brothers, the descendants^[f] of Esau, who are living in Seir; they will be afraid of you, and so be very careful. ⁵ Do not get involved in battle^[g] with them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even a foot’s breadth^[h] of it; since I have given Mount Seir as a possession for Esau. ⁶ You shall buy food from them so that you may eat; and also you shall purchase water from them with money so that you may drink. ⁷ The fact of the matter is, Yahweh your God has blessed you in all the work you have done;^[i] he knows your travels^[j] with respect to this great wilderness; forty years Yahweh your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing.”’ ⁸ And so we passed by our brothers, the descendants^[k] of Esau, who live in Seir, past the road of the Arabah,^[l] from Elath and Ezion Geber, and we turned and traveled along the route of the desert^[m] of Moab.

⁹ And Yahweh said to me, ‘You shall not attack Moab, and you shall not engage in war^[n] with them, for I will not give you any of his land as a possession; I have given Ar to the descendants^[o] of Lot as a possession.’ ¹⁰ (The Emim previously lived in it, a people large,^[p] numerous, and tall, like the Anakites. ¹¹ They were reckoned also as Rephaim as the Anakites were; but the Moabites called them Emim. ¹² The Horites previously lived in Seir, but the descendants^[q] of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from among themselves,^[r] as Israel did with respect to the land of their^[s] possession that Yahweh gave to them.) ¹³ So now arise and cross over the wadi^[t] of Zered yourselves; and so we crossed the wadi^[u] of Zered. ¹⁴ Now the length of time^[v] that we had traveled from Kadesh Barnea until the time when we crossed the wadi^[w] of Zered was thirty-eight years, until the perishing of all of that generation; that is, the men of war from the midst of the camp as Yahweh had sworn to them. ¹⁵ The hand of Yahweh was against them to root them out from the midst of the camp until they perished completely.

¹⁶ “And then^[x] when all the men of war^[y] had died^[z] from among the people, ¹⁷ Yahweh spoke to me, saying,^{[aa] 18} ‘You are about to cross over the boundary of Moab today^[ab] at Ar. ¹⁹ When you approach the border of^[ac] the Ammonites,^[ad] you shall not harass them, and you shall not get involved in battle with them, for I have not given the land of the Ammonites^[ae] to you as a possession; because I have given it to the descendants^[af] of Lot as a possession. ²⁰ (It is also considered the land of Rephaim; Rephaim lived in it previously,^[ag] and the Ammonites called them Zamzummim, ²¹ a people great and numerous and as tall as the Anakites; Yahweh destroyed them from before them,^[ah] and they dispossessed them and settled in place of them, ²² just as he did for the descendants^[ai] of Esau, who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them^[aj] and dispossessed them, and then they settled in their^[ak] place up to this day. ²³ And also the Avvites, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, and the Caphtorim, who came out from Caphtor, destroyed them and then settled in their place. ²⁴ Arise,^[al] set out and cross over the wadi^[am] of Arnon. Look! I have given Sihon the Amorite, the king of Heshbon, and his land into your hand; begin to take possession of it, and engage with him in battle. ²⁵ This day I will begin to place the dread of you^[an] and the fear of you before^[ao] the peoples under all the heavens. They will hear the report about you,^[ap] and so they will shake and tremble because of you.’ ^[aq]

²⁶ “So I sent messengers from the wilderness^[ar] of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon; I sent terms of peace, saying,^{[as] 27} ‘Let me cross through your land and only along the road^[at] I will go; I will not turn aside to the right or to the left. ²⁸ Food for money you shall sell me, so that I may eat, and water for money you will give to me, so that I may drink; just let me cross on foot. ²⁹ Just as the descendants^[au] of Esau did for me, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, until I cross the Jordan into the land that Yahweh our God is giving to us.’ ³⁰ But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing to let us cross through his territory because Yahweh your God hardened his spirit and made him obstinate^[av] in order to give him^[aw] into your hand, just as he has now done.^{[ax] 31} Yahweh said to me, ‘Look! I have begun to give over to you^[ay] Sihon and his land; begin to take possession of his land.’^{[az] 32} Then Sihon and all his people came out to meet us for battle at Jahaz. ³³ And so Yahweh our God gave him over to us,^[ba] and we struck him down, and his sons^[bb] and all of his people. ³⁴ So we captured all of his cities at that time, and we destroyed each town of males and the women and the children; we did not leave behind a survivor. ³⁵ We took only the livestock as spoil for ourselves,^[bc] and also the booty of the cities that we had captured. ³⁶ From Aroer, which is on the edge of the wadi^[bd] of Arnon and the city that was in the wadi^[be] on up to Gilead, there was not a city that was inaccessible to us; Yahweh our God gave everything^[bf] to us.^{[bg] 37} Only the land of the Ammonites^[bh] you did not approach, all along the whole upper region of the Jabbok River^[bi] and the towns of the hill country, according to all that Yahweh our God had instructed.

Footnotes

1. Deuteronomy 2:1 Or “desert”
2. Deuteronomy 2:1 Literally “sea of reeds”
3. Deuteronomy 2:2 Literally “to say”
4. Deuteronomy 2:4 Or “command”
5. Deuteronomy 2:4 Literally “to say”
6. Deuteronomy 2:4 Or “sons”
7. Deuteronomy 2:5 Or “provoke”
8. Deuteronomy 2:5 Literally “a sole’s foot of space”
9. Deuteronomy 2:7 Literally “the work of your hand”
10. Deuteronomy 2:7 Literally “your journeying”
11. Deuteronomy 2:8 Or “sons”
12. Deuteronomy 2:8 Or “Jordan Valley” since the Arabah is an extension of it
13. Deuteronomy 2:8 Or “wilderness”
14. Deuteronomy 2:9 Or “battle”
15. Deuteronomy 2:9 Or “sons”
16. Deuteronomy 2:10 Or “great” in the sense of influential
17. Deuteronomy 2:12 Or “sons”
18. Deuteronomy 2:12 Literally “from their presence”
19. Deuteronomy 2:12 Literally “its/his”
20. Deuteronomy 2:13 A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
21. Deuteronomy 2:13 A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
22. Deuteronomy 2:14 Literally “days”
23. Deuteronomy 2:14 A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
24. Deuteronomy 2:16 Literally “And it happened”
25. Deuteronomy 2:16 Or “battle”
26. Deuteronomy 2:16 Literally “had finished/completed to die”
27. Deuteronomy 2:17 Literally “to say”
28. Deuteronomy 2:18 Literally “the day”
29. Deuteronomy 2:19 Literally “opposite”
30. Deuteronomy 2:19 Literally “the sons/children of Ammon”
31. Deuteronomy 2:19 Literally “the sons/children of Ammon”
32. Deuteronomy 2:19 Or “sons”
33. Deuteronomy 2:20 Literally “before”
34. Deuteronomy 2:21 That is, the Ammonites
35. Deuteronomy 2:22 Or “sons”
36. Deuteronomy 2:22 Literally “from the face/presence of them”
37. Deuteronomy 2:22 Hebrew “them”
38. Deuteronomy 2:24 Or “Get up”
39. Deuteronomy 2:24 A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
40. Deuteronomy 2:25 Literally “your dread”
41. Deuteronomy 2:25 Literally “upon the faces of”
42. Deuteronomy 2:25 Literally “your report”
43. Deuteronomy 2:25 Literally “from before you”
44. Deuteronomy 2:26 Or “desert”
45. Deuteronomy 2:26 Literally “to say”
46. Deuteronomy 2:27 Literally “in the road, in the road”
47. Deuteronomy 2:29 Or “the children/sons of”
48. Deuteronomy 2:30 Literally “made firm his heart”
49. Deuteronomy 2:30 Literally “to give him,” indicating purpose
50. Deuteronomy 2:30 Literally “as it is this day”
51. Deuteronomy 2:31 Literally “to the face of you”
52. Deuteronomy 2:31 Literally, “take possession in order to possess his land”
53. Deuteronomy 2:33 Literally “before us”
54. Deuteronomy 2:33 Or “descendants”
55. Deuteronomy 2:35 Hebrew “us”
56. Deuteronomy 2:36 A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
57. Deuteronomy 2:36 A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
58. Deuteronomy 2:36 Literally “the whole”
59. Deuteronomy 2:36 Literally “before us”
60. Deuteronomy 2:37 Literally “children/sons of Ammon”
61. Deuteronomy 2:37 Literally “wadi,” which here refers to a flowing river