Deuteronomy 2:4

4 And charge the people, saying, Ye are going through the borders of your brethren the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir; and they shall fear you, and dread you greatly.

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 And the Lord said to me,

3 Ye have compassed this mount long enough; turn therefore toward the north.

4 And charge the people, saying, Ye are going through the borders of your brethren the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir; and they shall fear you, and dread you greatly.

5 Do not engage in war against them, for I will not give you of their land even enough to set your foot upon, for I have given mount Seir to the children of Esau as an inheritance.

6 Buy food of them for money and eat, and ye shall receive water of them by measure for money, and drink.