1. THEN WE turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea, as the Lord directed me; and for many days we journeyed around Mount Seir.
2. And the Lord spoke to me [Moses], saying,
3. You have roamed around this mountain country long enough; turn northward.
4. And command the Israelites, You are to pass through the territory of your kinsmen the sons of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So watch yourselves carefully.
5. Do not provoke or stir them up, for I will not give you of their land, no, not enough for the sole of your foot to tread on, for I have given Mount Seir to Esau for a possession.
6. You shall buy food from them for money, that you may eat, and you shall also buy water from them for money, that you may drink.
7. For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your walking through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.
8. So we passed on from our brethren the sons of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, away from the Arabah (wilderness), and from Elath and from Ezion-geber. We turned and went by the way of the wilderness of Moab.
9. And the Lord said to me, Do not trouble or assault 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 sons of Lot for a possession.
10. (The Emim dwelt there in times past, a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim.
11. These also are known as Rephaim [of giant stature], as are the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim.
12. The Horites also formerly lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them and dwelt in their stead, 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 had come over the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until the whole generation of the men of war had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them.
15. Moreover the hand of the Lord was against them to exterminate them from the midst of the camp, until they were all gone.
16. So when all the men of war had died from among the people,
17. The Lord spoke to me [Moses], saying,
18. You are this day to pass through Ar, the border of Moab.