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.
29. Let us go through your land until we go across the Jordan River into the land that the Lord our God is giving us. Other people have let us go through their land—the people of Esau living in Seir and the Moabites living in Ar.’
30. “But King Sihon of Heshbon would not let us pass through his country. The Lord your God had made him very stubborn and ready to fight. The Lord did this so that he could help you defeat King Sihon. And today we know that is what happened.
31. “The Lord said to me, ‘I am giving King Sihon and his country to you. Now, go take his land!’