2. until the Lord said:Moses,
3. Israel has wandered in these hills long enough. Turn and go north.
4. And give the people these orders: “Be very careful, because you will soon go through the land that belongs to your relatives, the descendants of Esau. They are afraid of you,
5. but don't start a war with them. I have given them the hill country of Seir, so I won't give any of it to you, not even enough to set a foot on.
6. And as you go through their land, you will have to buy food and water from them.”
7. The Lord has helped us and taken care of us during the past forty years that we have been in this huge desert. We've had everything we needed, and the Lord has blessed us and made us successful in whatever we have done.
8. We went past the territory that belonged to our relatives, the descendants of Esau. We followed Arabah Road that starts in the south at Elath and Ezion-Geber, then we turned on to the desert road that leads to Moab.
9. The Lord told me, “Don't try to start a war with Moab. Leave them alone, because I gave the land of Ar to them, and I will not let you have any of it.”
10. Before the Lord gave the Moabites their land, a large and powerful tribe lived there. They were the Emim, and they were as tall as the Anakim.
11. The Moabites called them Emim, though others sometimes used the name Rephaim for both the Anakim and the Emim.
12. The Horites used to live in Seir, but the Edomites took over that region. They killed many of the Horites and forced the rest of them to leave, just as Israel did to the people in the land that the Lord gave them.
13. When we came to the Zered Gorge along the southern border of Moab, the Lord told us to cross the gorge into Moab, and we did.