Wanderings in the Wilderness
1Then we turned back and set out toward the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea,2:1 Or the Sea of Reeds as the Lord had directed me. For a long time we made our way around the hill country of Seir.
2Then the Lord said to me, 3“You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north. 4Give the people these orders: ‘You are about to pass through the territory of your relatives the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, but be very careful. 5Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own. 6You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’ ”
7The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.
8So we went on past our relatives the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned from the Arabah road, which comes up from Elath and Ezion Geber, and traveled along the desert road of Moab.
9Then the Lord said to me, “Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any part of their land. I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession.”
10(The Emites used to live there—a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. 11Like the Anakites, they too were considered Rephaites, but the Moabites called them Emites. 12Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land the Lord gave them as their possession.)
13And the Lord said, “Now get up and cross the Zered Valley.” So we crossed the valley.
14Thirty-eight years passed from the time we left Kadesh Barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley. By then, that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them. 15The Lord’s hand was against them until he had completely eliminated them from the camp.
16Now when the last of these fighting men among the people had died, 17the Lord said to me, 18“Today you are to pass by the region of Moab at Ar. 19When you come to the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them to war, for I will not give you possession of any land belonging to the Ammonites. I have given it as a possession to the descendants of Lot.”
20(That too was considered a land of the Rephaites, who used to live there; but the Ammonites called them Zamzummites. 21They were a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. The Lord destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place. 22The Lord had done the same for the descendants of Esau, who lived in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them. They drove them out and have lived in their place to this day. 23And as for the Avvites who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorites coming out from Caphtor2:23 That is, Crete destroyed them and settled in their place.)
Defeat of Sihon King of Heshbon
24“Set out now and cross the Arnon Gorge. See, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his country. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle. 25This very day I will begin to put the terror and fear of you on all the nations under heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble and be in anguish because of you.”
26From the Desert of Kedemoth I sent messengers to Sihon king of Heshbon offering peace and saying, 27“Let us pass through your country. We will stay on the main road; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left. 28Sell us food to eat and water to drink for their price in silver. Only let us pass through on foot— 29as the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, did for us—until we cross the Jordan into the land the Lord our God is giving us.” 30But Sihon king of Heshbon refused to let us pass through. For the Lord your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to give him into your hands, as he has now done.
31The Lord said to me, “See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his country over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land.”
32When Sihon and all his army came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz, 33the Lord our God delivered him over to us and we struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army. 34At that time we took all his towns and completely destroyed2:34 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them. them—men, women and children. We left no survivors. 35But the livestock and the plunder from the towns we had captured we carried off for ourselves. 36From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the gorge, even as far as Gilead, not one town was too strong for us. The Lord our God gave us all of them. 37But in accordance with the command of the Lord our God, you did not encroach on any of the land of the Ammonites, neither the land along the course of the Jabbok nor that around the towns in the hills.
旷野漂流
1“之后，我们遵照耶和华的吩咐掉转头，沿红海的路前往旷野，在西珥山区绕行了很久。 2后来，耶和华对我说， 3‘你们在这山区绕行的日子够了，现在转向北方吧。 4你告诉众人，你们将经过西珥，那里住着你们的亲属以扫的子孙。他们惧怕你们，所以要格外谨慎， 5不要惹他们，因为我已把西珥山赐给以扫作产业，他们的土地，我一寸也不会赐给你们。 6你们吃的、喝的，都要花钱向他们买。 7你们的上帝耶和华使你们凡事蒙福，看顾着你们走过这辽阔的旷野，四十年来与你们同在，使你们一无所缺。’
8“于是，我们绕过我们亲属以扫的子孙所住的西珥，沿亚拉巴的路，经过以拉他、以旬·迦别，向摩押旷野走去。 9耶和华对我说，‘不可骚扰摩押人，不可与他们争战，因为我不会把他们的土地赐给你，我已把亚珥赐给罗得的子孙为业。’
10“从前以米人住在亚珥，他们人数众多，像亚衲人一样身材高大。 11以米人同亚衲人一样也被称为利乏音人，但摩押人称他们为以米人。 12以前，何利人也住在西珥，但以扫的子孙消灭了他们，占领了他们的土地，住在那里，正如后来以色列人占领了耶和华赐给他们的土地。 13耶和华又说，‘现在，你们要动身过撒烈溪。’于是，我们过了撒烈溪。 14我们从离开加低斯·巴尼亚到穿过撒烈溪用了三十八年。期间，那一代战士都死光了，正如耶和华的誓言。 15其实是耶和华的手攻击他们，直到把他们从营中全部消灭。
16“所有的战士都死后， 17耶和华对我说， 18‘今天你要从亚珥绕过摩押边境。 19到亚扪人之地后，不可骚扰他们，不可与他们争战，因为我不会把他们的土地赐给你们，我已把那里赐给罗得的子孙作产业。’ 20那里以前也是利乏音人住的地方，亚扪人称利乏音人为散送冥， 21利乏音族人数众多，像亚衲人一样身材高大。耶和华消灭了他们，让亚扪人占领他们的土地，住在那里。 22耶和华也曾为以扫的子孙消灭住在西珥的何利人，让他们占据何利人的土地，住在那里，直到今日。 23同样，来自克里特的迦斐托人消灭了迦萨附近的亚卫人，住在那里。 24耶和华说，‘起来穿过亚嫩谷，我已将亚摩利人希实本王西宏和他的土地交在你手中，你要攻打他，占领他的土地。 25从今天起，我要使天下万民在你面前惊恐万状，一听到你的名字就吓得发抖。’
击败希实本王
26“于是，我从基底莫旷野派使者去见希实本王西宏，提出和平的建议，说， 27‘请允许我们从贵国经过，我们只走大路，不会偏离。 28我们吃的喝的，都会按价向你买，只求让我们借道经过， 29就像西珥的以东人和亚珥的摩押人那样对待我们。我们只想过约旦河，去我们的上帝耶和华所赐之地。’ 30希实本王西宏却拒绝我们的请求，因为我们的上帝耶和华使他顽固不化，好让我们击败他，正如今日的情形。 31耶和华对我说，‘看啊，我已把西宏和他的土地交给你了，去占领那里，夺取他的土地吧。’ 32西宏率领全军在雅杂与我们交战。 33我们的上帝耶和华使西宏父子及其军队败在我们手下，全军覆没。 34我们攻占了西宏的所有城邑，将其夷为平地，杀光城中的男女老幼，一个不留， 35只留下牲畜和财物作战利品。 36从亚嫩谷边的亚罗珥和谷中的城，直到基列的所有城邑全被我们攻克，我们的上帝耶和华把这一切都交给了我们。 37我们遵照我们的上帝耶和华的吩咐，没有侵犯亚扪人的土地，即雅博河一带和山区的城邑。
