11. The Anakites were part of the Rephaites. People thought the Emites were also Rephaites, but the people of Moab called them Emites.
12. The Horites also lived in Seir in the past. Then Esau’s people destroyed the Horites, took their land, and settled there, just as the Israelites did to the people in the land that the Lord gave them.)
13. “The Lord told me, ‘Now, go to the other side of Zered Valley.’ So we crossed Zered Valley.
14. It was 38 years from the time we left Kadesh Barnea until the time we crossed Zered Valley. As the Lord had promised, all the fighting men in our camp from that generation had died.
15. The Lord had opposed those men until they were all dead and gone from our camp.
16. “After all the fighting men were dead and gone,
17. the Lord said to me,
18. ‘Today you must cross the border at Ar and go into Moab.
19. You will be just across from the Ammonites. Don’t bother them or fight with them, because I will not give you their land. They are descendants of Lot, and I have given that land to them.’”
20. (That country is also known as the Land of Rephaim. The Rephaites lived there in the past. The people of Ammon called them the Zamzummites.
21. There were many Rephaites, and they were very strong and tall like the Anakites. But the Lord helped the Ammonites destroy them. The Ammonites took that land and live there now.
22. God did the same thing for Esau’s people. In the past the Horites lived in Seir. But Esau’s people destroyed the Horites, and Esau’s descendants still live there today.
23. God did the same thing for some people from Crete. The Avvites lived in the towns around Gaza, but the Cretans destroyed them, took the land, and live there now.)
24. “The Lord told me, ‘Get ready to go across Arnon Valley. I will let you defeat Sihon the Amorite, the king of Heshbon. I will let you take his country. So fight against him and take his land.
25. Today I will make all people everywhere afraid of you. They will hear the news about you, and they will be afraid and shake with fear.’
26. “While we were in the desert of Kedemoth, I sent messengers to King Sihon of Heshbon. The messengers offered peace to Sihon. They said,
27. ‘Let us go through your land. We will stay on the road. We will not turn off the road to the right or to the left.
28. We will pay you in silver for any food we eat or any water we drink. We only want to march through your country.