Deuteronomy 2:24-37

Defeat of Sihon the Amorite

24 "[The Lord also said,] 'Get up, move out, and cross the Arnon Valley. See, I have handed Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land over to you. Begin to take possession [of it]; engage him in battle.
25 Today I will begin to put the fear and dread of you on the peoples everywhere under heaven. They will hear the report about you, tremble, and be in anguish because of you.'
26 "So I sent messengers with an offer of peace to Sihon king of Heshbon from the Wilderness of Kedemoth, saying,
27 'Let us travel through your land; we will keep strictly to the highway. We will not turn to the right or the left.
28 You can sell us food in exchange for silver so we may eat, and give us water for silver so we may drink. Only let us travel through on foot,
29 just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir did for us, and the Moabites who live in Ar, until we cross the Jordan into the land the Lord our God is giving us.'
30 But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us travel through his land, for the Lord your God made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to hand him over to you, as has now taken place.
31 "Then the Lord said to me, 'See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land to you. Begin to take possession of it.'
32 So Sihon and his whole army came out against us for battle at Jahaz.
33 The Lord our God handed him over to us, and we defeated him, his sons, and his whole army.
34 At that time we captured all his cities and completely destroyed the people of every city, including the women and children. We left no survivors.
35 We took only the livestock and the spoil from the cities we captured as plunder for ourselves.
36 There was no city that was inaccessible to[a] us, from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the valley, even as far as Gilead. The Lord our God gave everything to us.
37 But you did not go near the Ammonites' land, all along the bank of the Jabbok River[b] and the cities of the hill country, everything that the Lord our God had commanded.[c]

Deuteronomy 2:24-37 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 2

In this chapter Moses goes on with his account of the affairs of the people of Israel, and what befell them, how they turned into the wilderness again; but passes over in silence their travels there, till they came to Mount Self, where having been some time they were bid to depart, De 2:1-3, and were directed not to meddle with the Edomites, or take anything from them, but pay them for what they should have of them, since they lacked not, De 2:4-8, nor to distress the Moabites, of whose country, as formerly inhabited, and also of Edom, some account is given, De 2:9-12, when they were bid to go over the brook Zered, to which from their coming from Kadeshbarnea was the space of thirty eight years, in which time the former generation was consumed, De 2:13-16 and now passing along the borders of Moab, they were ordered not to meddle with nor distress the children of Ammon, of whose land also, and the former inhabitants of it, an account is given, De 2:17-23, then passing over the river Arnon, they are bid to fight with Sihon king of the Amorites, and possess his land, De 2:24,25 to whom they sent messengers, desiring leave to pass through his land, and to furnish them with provisions for their money, as the Edomites and Moabites had done, De 2:26-29 but he refusing, this gave them an opportunity to attack him, in which they succeeded, slew him and his people, and took possession of his country, De 2:30-37.

Footnotes 3

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