New International Reader s Version - NIrV - 1996
Deuteronomy 2
1
We turned back and started out toward the desert. We went along the road that leads to the Red Sea. That's how the Lord had directed me. For a long time we made our way around the hill country of Seir.
Reference
2
Then the Lord spoke to me. He said,
4
"Here are the orders I want you to give the people. Tell them, 'You are about to pass through the territory of your relatives. They are from the family line of Esau. They live in Seir. They will be afraid of you. But be very careful.
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5
Do not make them angry. If you do, they will go to war against you. I will not give you any of their land. You will not have even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own.
Reference
7
The Lord your God has blessed you in everything your hands have done. He watched over you when you traveled through that huge desert. For these 40 years the Lord your God has been with you. So you have had everything you need.
Reference
Blessing
Genesis 26:12
Genesis 12:2
Genesis 24:35
Genesis 39:5
Parallel theme
Luke 22:35
Nehemiah 9:21
Deuteronomy 29:5
Psalm 31:7
Job 23:10
References God
Psalm 90:17
8
We went on past our relatives. They are from the family line of Esau. They live in Seir. We turned away from the Arabah Valley road. It comes up from Elath and Ezion Geber. We traveled along the desert road of Moab.
Reference
📍 Elath
9
Then the Lord said to me, "Do not attack the Moabites. Do not even make them angry. If you do, they will go to war against you. I will not give you any part of their land. I have given Moab to the people in the family line of Lot. I have given it to them as their own."
Reference
10
The Emites used to live there. They were strong people. There were large numbers of them. They were as tall as the Anakites.
Reference
Parallel theme
Genesis 14:5
11
Like the Anakites, they too were thought of as Rephaites. But the Moabites called them Emites.
12
The Horites used to live in Seir. But the people of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites to make room for themselves. Then they settled in their territory. They did just as Israel has done in the land the Lord gave them as their own.
Reference
13
The Lord said, "Now get up. Go across the Zered Valley." So we went across it.
Reference
📍 Zered
Parallel theme
Numbers 21:12
14
Between the time we left Kadesh Barnea and the time we went across the Zered Valley, 38 years passed. By then, all of the fighting men who had been in our camp from the beginning had died. The Lord had warned them with an oath that it would happen.
Reference
📍 Zered
Parallel theme
Psalm 95:11
Ezekiel 20:15
Psalm 106:26
Deuteronomy 1:2
Numbers 13:26
References Lord
Deuteronomy 1:19
15
He used his power against them until he had gotten rid of all of them. Not one was left in the camp.
Reference
Parallel theme
Psalm 106:26
16
Finally, the last of the fighting men among the people died.
17
Then the Lord spoke to me. He said,
18
"Today you must pass near the border of Moab. Moab is also called Ar.
Reference
Parallel theme
Numbers 21:23
19
"When you come to the Ammonites, do not attack them. Do not make them angry. If you do, they will go to war against you. I will not give you any of their land as your own. I have given it to the people in the family line of Lot. I have given it to them as their own."
Reference
📍 Ammon
20
That land was also thought of as a land of the Rephaites. They used to live there. But the Ammonites called them Zamzummites.
Reference
Parallel theme
Genesis 14:5
21
The Rephaites were strong people. There were large numbers of them. They were as tall as the Anakites. The Lord destroyed the Rephaites to make room for the Ammonites. So the Ammonites drove them out. Then they settled in the territory of the Rephaites.
22
The Lord had done the same thing for the people of Esau. They lived in Seir. He destroyed the Horites to make room for them. They drove the Horites out. So the people of Esau have lived in Seir in the territory of the Horites to this very day.
Reference
23
The Avvites lived in villages as far away as Gaza. But people came from Crete. They destroyed the Avvites. Then they settled in the territory of the Avvites.
Reference
📍 Caphtor
24
The Lord said, "Start out and go across the valley of the Arnon River. I have handed Sihon over to you. He is the Amorite king of Heshbon. I have also given you his country. Begin to take it as your own. Go to war against him.
📍 Valley of the Arnon
25
"This very day I will bring fear and terror on all of the nations because of you. They will hear about you. They will tremble with fear. Pain and suffering will take hold of them because of you."
Reference
26
I sent messengers from the Desert of Kedemoth. I told them to go to Sihon, the king of Heshbon. They offered him peace. They said,
Reference
📍 Kedemoth
Parallel theme
Joshua 13:18
27
"Let us pass through your country. We'll stay on the main road. We won't turn off it to one side or the other.
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Parallel theme
Judges 11:19
28
We'll pay you the right amount of silver for food to eat and water to drink. Just let us walk through your country.
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Parallel theme
Numbers 20:19
29
The people of Esau, who live in Seir, allowed us to do that. The people of Moab, who live in Ar, also allowed us to do it. So let us walk through until we go across the Jordan River. Then we'll be able to go into the land the Lord our God is giving us."
Reference
Parallel theme
Numbers 20:18
30
But Sihon, the king of Heshbon, refused to let us walk through. The Lord your God had made his heart and spirit stubborn. The Lord wanted to hand him over to you. And that's exactly what he has done.
Reference
31
The Lord said to me, "I have begun to hand Sihon and his country over to you. So begin the battle to take his land as your own."
Reference
References Lord
Deuteronomy 1:8
32
Sihon and his whole army came out to fight against us at Jahaz.
33
But the Lord our God handed him over to us. We struck him down together with his sons and his whole army.
Reference
34
At that time we took all of his towns. We completely destroyed them. We killed all of the men, women and children. We didn't leave any of them alive.
Reference
35
But we took for ourselves the livestock and everything else from the towns we had captured.
36
Not a single town was too strong for us. That includes all of the towns from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon River valley all the way to Gilead. It also includes the town in the valley. The Lord our God gave us all of them.
Reference
📍 Locations
Summary of Deuteronomy 2
Deuteronomy chapter 2 is a continuation of Moses' recollection of Israel's journey through the wilderness. Having reminded the people of their failure at Kadesh-barnea, Moses tells of how God led Israel around the lands of Edom, Moab, and Ammon. It is in this chapter that Israel's conquests of the first kings east of Jordan are revealed. God was leading them to the land that would become their possession.
Moses reminds them of the long period of wandering around Mount Seir. After having had to return from the land of Canaan, Israel had wandered for many years in the wilderness. God finally told Moses that it was time to end their journeying.
They were to go north and around Edom, the descendants of Esau and the brother of Jacob. God had told Israel to leave them alone and not take their land, for the territory had been given to Esau's descendants.
Israel was allowed to purchase food and drink from the Edomites and Moabites. Moses reminded the Israelites and, in particular, that God had blessed them with food and water during their forty-year wandering in the wilderness. Their clothes did not wear out and neither did their feet swell over those years. God had watched over them.
Passing Edom, Israel approached the land of Moab. Again, they were told not to engage the Moabites in battle or take their land.
Lot's descendants, who were the Moabites, had been given the land of Ar by God.
Moses tells of the Emim who had previously occupied the land. They were a great nation, as numerous and powerful as the Anakims, but had been conquered by the descendants of Lot.
Israel was to receive this land as well as that of Edom and Moab as God's gift to His people.
The Israelites passed on to the land of Ammon and were commanded by God to not attack Ammon or their land either. The descendants of Lot, the Ammonites, had been given their land by God.
The Zamzummims had occupied this land before the Ammonites, but had been conquered by them. The Zamzummims were numerous and very strong. No wonder, then, that the Ammonites were given this land by God.
As Israel journeyed through the valley of the Zered, Moses told the people that thirty-eight years had passed since they had left Kadesh. This was a significant period of time, and the entire rebellious generation of men who had fought God had since died.
It was God's will that they should wander for this long period of time in the wilderness.
They drew close to the border of Moab at Ar and God told Moses that this was the place where they should cross the Jordan. They were approaching the land that would belong to them and which Israel would conquer.
God ordered Israel to fight against the Amorites. Unlike Edom, Moab and Ammon, Sihon, king of the Amorites, the nation of Heshbon, was to be conquered. Moses sent messengers to him and advised him to allow Israel to pass through his land. The messengers assured him that they would take only the main road and were willing to pay for food and water. They would not spread out over his fields or vineyards and would not take anything that was not given to them.
Sihon refused their request and refused to let Israel pass through his land. God's hand was upon him and his heart was hardened so that he would not listen to them. This act of defiance was to lead to battle and Israel's conquest of his lands.
Sihon gathered his troops and met Israel at Jahaz. Israel defeated him and took possession of his cities. The people destroyed them and all the inhabitants according to the judgment prescribed by the Lord. The land between the Arnon and the Jabbok now belonged to Israel.
Heshbon and the surrounding cities were captured by Israel. This victory was further testimony that the new generation of Israelites was able to conquer and take possession of lands with divine help. No city was too strong for the Israelites and God had given them Sihon and his lands as a gift. The people began to lay claim to the lands that would soon belong to them, like in Canaan.
Deuteronomy chapter 2 is most significant in that it marks a turning point in Moses' recollection of Israel's journey through the wilderness. It marks the transition from the old generation to the new, and the new generations of Israelites were able to achieve victories that the old ones had not. The old generation of Israelites had rebelled before the battle for the Promised Land and had been punished by God for doing so. Moses warns Israel of the coming generation of rebellious children and a spirit of disobedience. But the victories achieved by Israel over Sihon and his people and the successes of the new generation give cause for hope.
Moses emphasizes the difference between the land Israel was given and the land that they were commanded to leave alone. Edom, Moab and Ammon were not to be conquered as they had belonged to Esau, Abraham's son, and Lot's son, respectively. Israel's inheritance of land had boundaries.
Moses reminds the Israelites of God's promises and judgments. The rebellious generation had indeed died in the wilderness and its children were now being led by God to the Promised Land. Israel learned to rely on the battles God had given them, such as those against the Canaanites and Amorites.
Deuteronomy chapter 2, then, connects the history of Israel to its future. The time of wandering was coming to an end, the rebellious generation was dying and the new generation was beginning to make its inheritance. Moses reminds Israel of the victories of the past and their conquests of the lands of foreign kings and peoples.
Moses reminds them of the long period of wandering around Mount Seir. After having had to return from the land of Canaan, Israel had wandered for many years in the wilderness. God finally told Moses that it was time to end their journeying.
They were to go north and around Edom, the descendants of Esau and the brother of Jacob. God had told Israel to leave them alone and not take their land, for the territory had been given to Esau's descendants.
Israel was allowed to purchase food and drink from the Edomites and Moabites. Moses reminded the Israelites and, in particular, that God had blessed them with food and water during their forty-year wandering in the wilderness. Their clothes did not wear out and neither did their feet swell over those years. God had watched over them.
Passing Edom, Israel approached the land of Moab. Again, they were told not to engage the Moabites in battle or take their land.
Lot's descendants, who were the Moabites, had been given the land of Ar by God.
Moses tells of the Emim who had previously occupied the land. They were a great nation, as numerous and powerful as the Anakims, but had been conquered by the descendants of Lot.
Israel was to receive this land as well as that of Edom and Moab as God's gift to His people.
The Israelites passed on to the land of Ammon and were commanded by God to not attack Ammon or their land either. The descendants of Lot, the Ammonites, had been given their land by God.
The Zamzummims had occupied this land before the Ammonites, but had been conquered by them. The Zamzummims were numerous and very strong. No wonder, then, that the Ammonites were given this land by God.
As Israel journeyed through the valley of the Zered, Moses told the people that thirty-eight years had passed since they had left Kadesh. This was a significant period of time, and the entire rebellious generation of men who had fought God had since died.
It was God's will that they should wander for this long period of time in the wilderness.
They drew close to the border of Moab at Ar and God told Moses that this was the place where they should cross the Jordan. They were approaching the land that would belong to them and which Israel would conquer.
God ordered Israel to fight against the Amorites. Unlike Edom, Moab and Ammon, Sihon, king of the Amorites, the nation of Heshbon, was to be conquered. Moses sent messengers to him and advised him to allow Israel to pass through his land. The messengers assured him that they would take only the main road and were willing to pay for food and water. They would not spread out over his fields or vineyards and would not take anything that was not given to them.
Sihon refused their request and refused to let Israel pass through his land. God's hand was upon him and his heart was hardened so that he would not listen to them. This act of defiance was to lead to battle and Israel's conquest of his lands.
Sihon gathered his troops and met Israel at Jahaz. Israel defeated him and took possession of his cities. The people destroyed them and all the inhabitants according to the judgment prescribed by the Lord. The land between the Arnon and the Jabbok now belonged to Israel.
Heshbon and the surrounding cities were captured by Israel. This victory was further testimony that the new generation of Israelites was able to conquer and take possession of lands with divine help. No city was too strong for the Israelites and God had given them Sihon and his lands as a gift. The people began to lay claim to the lands that would soon belong to them, like in Canaan.
Deuteronomy chapter 2 is most significant in that it marks a turning point in Moses' recollection of Israel's journey through the wilderness. It marks the transition from the old generation to the new, and the new generations of Israelites were able to achieve victories that the old ones had not. The old generation of Israelites had rebelled before the battle for the Promised Land and had been punished by God for doing so. Moses warns Israel of the coming generation of rebellious children and a spirit of disobedience. But the victories achieved by Israel over Sihon and his people and the successes of the new generation give cause for hope.
Moses emphasizes the difference between the land Israel was given and the land that they were commanded to leave alone. Edom, Moab and Ammon were not to be conquered as they had belonged to Esau, Abraham's son, and Lot's son, respectively. Israel's inheritance of land had boundaries.
Moses reminds the Israelites of God's promises and judgments. The rebellious generation had indeed died in the wilderness and its children were now being led by God to the Promised Land. Israel learned to rely on the battles God had given them, such as those against the Canaanites and Amorites.
Deuteronomy chapter 2, then, connects the history of Israel to its future. The time of wandering was coming to an end, the rebellious generation was dying and the new generation was beginning to make its inheritance. Moses reminds Israel of the victories of the past and their conquests of the lands of foreign kings and peoples.