The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 Then we went back, journeying into the waste land by the way to the Red Sea, as the Lord had said to me: and we were a long time going round Mount Seir.
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we finally turned and went into the desert, on the road to the Gulf of Aqaba, as the Lord had commanded, and we spent a long time wandering about in the hill country of Edom.
2 And the Lord said to me,
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"Then the Lord told me
3 You have been journeying round this mountain long enough: now go to the north;
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that we had spent enough time wandering about in those hills and that we should go north.
4 And give the people orders, saying, You are about to go through the land of your brothers, the children of Esau, who are living in Seir; and they will have fear of you; so take care what you do:
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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 Make no attack on them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even space enough for a man's foot: because I have given Mount Seir to Esau for his heritage.
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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 get food for your needs from them for a price, and water for drinking.
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You may buy food and water from them.'
7 For the blessing of the Lord your God has been on you in all the work of your hands: he has knowledge of your wanderings through this great waste: these forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have been short of nothing.
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"Remember how the Lord your God has blessed you in everything that you have done. He has taken care of you as you wandered through this vast desert. He has been with you these forty years, and you have had everything you needed.
8 So we went on past our brothers, the children of Esau, living in Seir, by the road through the Arabah, from Elath and Ezion-geber. And turning, we went by the road through the waste land of Moab.
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"So we moved on and left the road that goes from the towns of Elath and Eziongeber to the Dead Sea, and we turned northeast toward Moab.
9 And the Lord said to me, Make no attack on Moab and do not go to war with them, for I will not give you any of his land: because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for their heritage.
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The Lord said to me, "Don't trouble the people of Moab, the descendants of Lot, or start a war against them. I have given them the city of Ar, and I am not going to give you any of their land.' "
10 (In the past the Emim were living there; a great people, equal in numbers to the Anakim and as tall;
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(A mighty race of giants called the Emim used to live in Ar. They were as tall as the Anakim, another race of giants.
11 They are numbered among the Rephaim, like the Anakim; but are named Emim by the Moabites.
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Like the Anakim they were also known as Rephaim; but the Moabites called them Emim.
12 And the Horites in earlier times were living in Seir, but the children of Esau took their place; they sent destruction on them and took their land for themselves, as Israel did to the land of his heritage which the Lord gave them.)
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The Horites used to live in Edom, but the descendants of Esau chased them out, destroyed their nation, and settled there themselves, just as the Israelites later chased their enemies out of the land that the Lord gave them.)
13 Get up now, and go over the stream Zered. So we went over the stream Zered.
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"Then we crossed the Zered River as the Lord told us to do.
14 Thirty-eight years had gone by from the time when we came away from Kadesh-barnea till we went over the stream Zered; by that time all the generation of the men of war among us were dead, as the Lord had said.
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This was thirty-eight years after we had left Kadesh Barnea. All the fighting men of that generation had died, as the Lord had said they would.
15 For the hand of the Lord was against them, working their destruction, till all were dead.
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The Lord kept on opposing them until he had destroyed them all.
16 So when death had overtaken all the men of war among the people,
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"After they had all died,
17 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
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the Lord said to us,
18 You are about to go by Ar, the limit of the country of Moab;
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"Today you are to pass through the territory of Moab by way of Ar.
19 And when you come near the land of the children of Ammon, give them no cause of trouble and do not make war on them, for I will not give you any of the land of the children of Ammon for your heritage: because I have given it to the children of Lot.
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You will then be near the land of the Ammonites, the descendants of Lot. Don't trouble them or start a war against them, because I am not going to give you any of the land that I have given them.' "
20 (That land is said to have been a land of the Rephaim, for Rephaim had been living there in earlier times, but they were named Zamzummim by the Ammonites;
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(This territory is also known as the land of the Rephaim, the name of the people who used to live there; the Ammonites called them Zamzummim.
21 They were a great people, tall as the Anakim, and equal to them in number; but the Lord sent destruction on them and the children of Ammon took their place, living in their land;
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They were as tall as the Anakim. There were many of them, and they were a mighty race. But the Lord destroyed them, so that the Ammonites took over their land and settled there.
22 As he did for the children of Esau living in Seir, when he sent destruction on the Horites before them, and they took their land where they are living to this day:
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The Lord had done the same thing for the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, who live in the hill country of Edom. He destroyed the Horites, so that the Edomites took over their land and settled there, where they still live.
23 And the Avvim, living in the small towns as far as Gaza, came to destruction by the hands of the Caphtorim who came out from Caphtor and took their land.)
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The land along the Mediterranean coast had been settled by people from the island of Crete. They had destroyed the Avvim, the original inhabitants, and had taken over all their land as far south as the city of Gaza.)
24 Get up now, and go on your journey, crossing over the valley of the Arnon: see, I have given into your hands Sihon, the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and all his land: go forward to make it yours, and make war on him,
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"After we had passed through Moab, the Lord told us, "Now, start out and cross the Arnon River. I am placing in your power Sihon, the Amorite king of Heshbon, along with his land. Attack him, and begin occupying his land.
25 From now on I will put the fear of you in all peoples under heaven, who, hearing of you, will be shaking with fear and grief of heart because of you.
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From today on I will make people everywhere afraid of you. Everyone will tremble with fear at the mention of your name.'
26 Then from the waste land of Kedemoth I sent representatives to Sihon, king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying,
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"Then I sent messengers from the desert of Kedemoth to King Sihon of Heshbon with the following offer of peace:
27 Let me go through your land: I will keep to the highway, not turning to the right or to the left;
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"Let us pass through your country. We will go straight through and not leave the road.
28 Let me have food, at a price, for my needs, and water for drinking: only let me go through on foot;
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We will pay for the food we eat and the water we drink. All we want to do is to pass through your country,
29 As the children of Esau did for me in Seir and the Moabites in Ar; till I have gone over Jordan into the land which the Lord our God is giving us.
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until we cross the Jordan River into the land that the Lord our God is giving us. The descendants of Esau, who live in Edom, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, allowed us to pass through their territory.'
30 But Sihon, king of Heshbon, would not let us go through; for the Lord your God made his spirit hard and his heart strong, so that he might give him up into your hands as at this day.
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"But King Sihon would not let us pass through his country. The Lord your God had made him stubborn and rebellious, so that we could defeat him and take his territory, which we still occupy.
31 And the Lord said to me, See, from now on I have given Sihon and his land into your hands: go forward now to take his land and make it yours.
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"Then the Lord said to me, "Look, I have made King Sihon and his land helpless before you; take his land and occupy it.'
32 Then Sihon came out against us with all his people, to make an attack on us at Jahaz.
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Sihon came out with all his men to fight us near the town of Jahaz,
33 And the Lord our God gave him into our hands; and we overcame him and his sons and all his people.
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but the Lord our God put him in our power, and we killed him, his sons, and all his men.
34 At that time we took all his towns, and gave them over to complete destruction, together with men, women, and children; we had no mercy on any:
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At the same time we captured and destroyed every town, and put everyone to death, men, women, and children. We left no survivors.
35 Only the cattle we took for ourselves, with the goods from the towns we had taken.
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We took the livestock and plundered the towns.
36 From Aroer on the edge of the valley of the Arnon and from the town in the valley as far as Gilead, no town was strong enough to keep us out; the Lord our God gave them all into our hands:
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The Lord our God let us capture all the towns from Aroer, on the edge of the Arnon Valley, and the city in the middle of that valley, all the way to Gilead. No town had walls too strong for us.
37 But you did not go near the land of the children of Ammon, that is, all the side of the river Jabbok or the towns of the hill-country, wherever the Lord our God had said we were not to go.
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But we did not go near the territory of the Ammonites or to the banks of the Jabbok River or to the towns of the hill country or to any other place where the Lord our God had commanded us not to go.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.