Deuteronomy 2:4

4 He told me to give you the following instructions: "You are about to go through the hill country of Edom, the territory of your distant relatives, the descendants of Esau. They will be afraid of you, ¹

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 told me

3 that we had spent enough time wandering about in those hills and that we should go north.

4 He told me to give you the following instructions: "You are about to go through the hill country of Edom, the territory of your distant relatives, the descendants of Esau. They will be afraid of you,

5 but you must not start a war with them, because I am not going to give you so much as a square foot of their land. I have given Edom to Esau's descendants.

6 You may buy food and water from them.'

Cross References

• 1. 2.4Genesis 36.8.