New Revised Standard NRS
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 we journeyed back into the wilderness, in the direction of the Red Sea, as the Lord had told me and skirted Mount Seir for many days.
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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.
2 Then the Lord said to me:
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And the Lord said to me,
3 "You have been skirting this hill country long enough. Head north,
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You have been journeying round this mountain long enough: now go to the north;
4 and charge the people as follows: You are about to pass through the territory of your kindred, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so, be very careful
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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:
5 not to engage in battle with them, for I will not give you even so much as a foot's length of their land, since I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.
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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.
6 You shall purchase food from them for money, so that you may eat; and you shall also buy water from them for money, so that you may drink.
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You may get food for your needs from them for a price, and water for drinking.
7 Surely the Lord your God has blessed you in all your undertakings; he knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing."
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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.
8 So we passed by our kin, the descendants of Esau who live in Seir, leaving behind the route of the Arabah, and leaving behind Elath and Ezion-geber. When we had headed out along the route of the wilderness of Moab,
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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.
9 the Lord said to me: "Do not harass Moab or engage them in battle, for I will not give you any of its land as a possession, since I have given Ar as a possession to the descendants of Lot."
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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.
10 (The Emim—a large and numerous people, as tall as the Anakim—had formerly inhabited it.
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(In the past the Emim were living there; a great people, equal in numbers to the Anakim and as tall;
11 Like the Anakim, they are usually reckoned as Rephaim, though the Moabites call them Emim.
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They are numbered among the Rephaim, like the Anakim; but are named Emim by the Moabites.
12 Moreover, the Horim had formerly inhabited Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed them, destroying them and settling in their place, as Israel has done in the land that the Lord gave them as a possession.)
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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.)
13 "Now then, proceed to cross over the Wadi Zered." So we crossed over the Wadi Zered.
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Get up now, and go over the stream Zered. So we went over the stream Zered.
14 And the length of time we had traveled from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Wadi Zered was thirty-eight years, until the entire generation of warriors had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn concerning them.
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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.
15 Indeed, the Lord's own hand was against them, to root them out from the camp, until all had perished.
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For the hand of the Lord was against them, working their destruction, till all were dead.
16 Just as soon as all the warriors had died off from among the people,
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So when death had overtaken all the men of war among the people,
17 the Lord spoke to me, saying,
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The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
18 "Today you are going to cross the boundary of Moab at Ar.
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You are about to go by Ar, the limit of the country of Moab;
19 When you approach the frontier of the Ammonites, do not harass them or engage them in battle, for I will not give the land of the Ammonites to you as a possession, because I have given it to the descendants of Lot."
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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.
20 (It also is usually reckoned as a land of Rephaim. Rephaim formerly inhabited it, though the Ammonites call them Zamzummim,
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(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;
21 a strong and numerous people, as tall as the Anakim. But the Lord destroyed them from before the Ammonites so that they could dispossess them and settle in their place.
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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;
22 He did the same for the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, by destroying the Horim before them so that they could dispossess them and settle in their place even to this day.
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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:
23 As for the Avvim, who had lived in settlements in the vicinity of Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and settled in their place.)
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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.)
24 "Proceed on your journey and cross the Wadi Arnon. See, I have handed over to you King Sihon the Amorite of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession by engaging him in battle.
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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,
25 This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples everywhere under heaven; when they hear report of you, they will tremble and be in anguish because of you."
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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.
26 So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to King Sihon of Heshbon with the following terms of peace:
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Then from the waste land of Kedemoth I sent representatives to Sihon, king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying,
27 "If you let me pass through your land, I will travel only along the road; I will turn aside neither to the right nor to the left.
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Let me go through your land: I will keep to the highway, not turning to the right or to the left;
28 You shall sell me food for money, so that I may eat, and supply me water for money, so that I may drink. Only allow me to pass through on foot—
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Let me have food, at a price, for my needs, and water for drinking: only let me go through on foot;
29 just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir have done for me and likewise the Moabites who live in Ar—until I cross the Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is giving us."
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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.
30 But King Sihon of Heshbon was not willing to let us pass through, for the Lord your God had hardened his spirit and made his heart defiant in order to hand him over to you, as he has now done.
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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.
31 The Lord said to me, "See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin now to take possession of his land."
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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.
32 So when Sihon came out against us, he and all his people for battle at Jahaz,
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Then Sihon came out against us with all his people, to make an attack on us at Jahaz.
33 the Lord our God gave him over to us; and we struck him down, along with his offspring and all his people.
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And the Lord our God gave him into our hands; and we overcame him and his sons and all his people.
34 At that time we captured all his towns, and in each town we utterly destroyed men, women, and children. We left not a single survivor.
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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:
35 Only the livestock we kept as spoil for ourselves, as well as the plunder of the towns that we had captured.
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Only the cattle we took for ourselves, with the goods from the towns we had taken.
36 From Aroer on the edge of the Wadi Arnon (including the town that is in the wadi itself) as far as Gilead, there was no citadel too high for us. The Lord our God gave everything to us.
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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:
37 You did not encroach, however, on the land of the Ammonites, avoiding the whole upper region of the Wadi Jabbok as well as the towns of the hill country, just as the Lord our God had charged.
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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.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.