Deuteronomy 2:4

4 and command the people, “You are about to pass through the territory of ¹your brothers, the people of Esau, ²who live in Seir; and ³they will be afraid of you. So be very careful.

Deuteronomy 2:4 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 2:4

And command thou the people
Give them a strict charge:

saying, ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children
or Esau:
not through the midst of their country, for that the king of Edom would not admit of, but by or on the border of it:

and they shall be afraid of you;
lest such a numerous body of people as Israel were should seize upon their country, and dispossess them of it, they having been so long, wanderers in a wilderness near them:

take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore;
that they did not take any advantage of their fears, and fall upon them, and do them mischief, or that they did not provoke them to battle and overcome them.

Deuteronomy 2:4 In-Context

2 Then the Lord said to me,

3 ‘You have been traveling around this mountain country long enough. Turn northward

4 and command the people, “You are about to pass through the territory of your brothers, the people of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful.

5 Do not contend with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.

6 You shall purchase food from them with money, that you may eat, and you shall also buy water from them with money, that you may drink.

Cross References

• 1. 2:4 ch. 23:7; Amos 1:11; Obad. 10, 12
• 2. 2:4 See Gen. 32:3
• 3. 2:4 See Num. 20:18-21