29But I said to you: Don't be terrified! Don't be afraid of them! 30The LORD your God is going before you. He will fight for you just as he fought for you in Egypt while you watched, 31and as you saw him do in the desert. Throughout your entire journey, until you reached this very place, the LORD your God has carried you just as a parent carries a child.
32But you had no faith in the LORD your God about this matter, 33even though he went ahead of you, scouting places where you should camp, in fire by night, so you could see the road you were taking, and in cloud during the daytime.
34The LORD heard what you said. He was angry and he swore: 35Not even one of these people--this wicked generation!--will see the wonderful land that I promised to give to your ancestors. 36The only exception is Caleb, Jephunneh's son. He will see it. I will give the land he walked on to him and his children for this reason: he was completely devoted to the LORD.
(37The LORD was even angry with me because of what you did. "You won't enter the land either," God said. 38"But Nun's son Joshua, your assistant, will enter it. Strengthen him because he's the one who will help Israel inherit the land.")
39Now as for your toddlers, those you said would be taken in war, and your young children who don't yet know right and wrong--they will enter the land. I will give it to them. They will possess it! 40But you all must now turn around. Head back toward the wilderness along the route of the Reed Sea.d
41You replied to me: "We've sinned against the LORD! We will go up! We will fight, just as the LORD our God commanded." Each one of you grabbed your weapons. You thought it would be easye to go up into the hills. 42But the LORD told me: Tell them: Don't go up! Don't fight because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.
43I reported this to you but you wouldn't listen. You disobeyed the LORD's instruction. Hotheadedly, you went up into the hills. 44And the Amorites who lived in those hills came out to meet you in battle. They chased you like bees give chase! They gave you a beating from Seir all the way to Hormah. 45When you came back, you cried before the LORD, but he wouldn't respond to your tears or give you a hearing.
46And so you stayed in Kadesh-barnea for quite some time.
Journeys in Transjordan
Deuteronomy 2Next, we turned around and headed back toward the wilderness along the Reed Seaf road, exactly as the LORD instructed me. We traveled all around Mount Seir for a long time.
2Eventually the LORD said: 3You've been traveling around this mountain long enough. Head north. 4Command the people as follows: You are about to enter into the territory of your relatives who live in Seir: Esau's descendants. They will be afraid of you, so watch yourselves most carefully. 5Don't fight with them because I will not give the tiniest parcel of their land to you. I have given Mount Seir to Esau's family as their property. 6Of course you may buy food from them with money so you can eat, and also water with money so you can drink.
7No doubt about it: the LORD your God has blessed you in all that you have done. He watched over your journey through that vast desert. Throughout these forty years the LORD your God has been with you. You haven't needed a thing.
8So we passed through the territory of our relatives who live in Seir, Esau's descendants, leaving the desert road from Elath and from Ezion-geber. Next we turned and went along the Moab wilderness route. 9The LORD said to me: Don't aggravate Moab. Don't fight them in battle because I won't give any part of their land to you as your own. I have given Ar to Lot's descendants as their property.
(10Now the Emimg had lived there before. They were big and numerous and tall--just like the Anakim. 11Most people thought the Emim were Rephaim, like the Anakim were. But the Moabites called them "Emim."12Additionally, the Horimh had lived in Seir previously, but Esau's descendants took possession of their area, eliminating them altogether and settling in their place. That is exactly what Israel did in the land it took possession of, which the LORD gave to them.)
13"So then, get going. Cross the Zered ravine."
So we crossed the Zered ravine.
14It took us a total of thirty-eight years to go from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Zered ravine. It was at that point that the last of the previous generation, every one of fighting age in the camp, had died, just as the LORD had sworn about them. 15In fact, the LORD's power was against them, to rid the camp of them, until they were all gone.
16Now as soon as all those of fighting age had died, 17the LORD said to me: 18Today you are crossing through the territory of Moab and Ar 19and you will come close to the Ammonites. Don't aggravate them. Don't fight with them because I won't give any part of the Ammonites' land to you as your own. I've given it to Lot's descendants as their property.
20Now people thought that land was Rephaim territory as well. The Rephaim had lived there previously. But the Ammonites called them "Zamzummim."i 21They were large, numerous, and tall, just like the Anakim. But the LORD completely destroyed the Zamzummim before the Ammonites, and they took possession of that area, settling in their place. 22That is exactly what God did for Esau's descendants, who live in Seir, when he completely destroyed the Horites in their presence, and they took possession of the Horites' area, settling in their place to this very day. 23The Avvim,j who had lived in settlements around Gaza, were completely destroyed by the Caphtorim, who had come from Caphtor. They replaced the Avvim there.
Victories in Transjordan
24"So get going. Cross the Arnon ravine. I have handed Sihon the Amorite king of Heshbon and his land over to you. It's time to possess the area! It's time to fight him in battle!25Starting right now, I am making everyone everywhere afraid of you and scared of you. Once they hear news of you, they will be shaking and worrying because of you."
26I then sent messengers from the Kedemoth desert to Sihon, Heshbon's king, with words of peace: 27"Please let usk pass through your land. We promise to stay on the road. We won't step off it, right or left. 28Please sell us food for money so we can eat; sell us water for money so we can drink. Let us pass through on foot--29just as Esau's descendants who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me--until we cross the Jordan River into the land that the LORD our God is giving to us."
30But Sihon, Heshbon's king, wasn't willing to let us pass through his land because the LORD your God had made his spirit hard and his heart inflexible so that God could hand him over to you, which is exactly how it happened. 31The LORD said to me: Look! Right now I'm laying Sihon and his land before you. It's time to take possession of his land!
32Sihon and all his forces came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz. 33But the LORD our God gave him to us. We struck him down, along with his sons, and all his forces. 34At that time, we captured all of Sihon's cities, and we placed every town--men, women, and children--under the ban.l We left no survivors. 35The only things we kept for ourselves were the animals and the plunder from the towns we had taken. 36From Aroer, which is on the edge of the Arnon Ravine, to the town that is in the valley there,m even as far as Gilead, there wasn't a city that could resist us. The LORD our God laid everything out before us. 37But you didn't go near the Ammonite lands or hillside cities alongside the Jabbok River, in compliance with alln that