18. “Today you are going to cross the border of Moab, that is, of Ar.
19. But when you come close to the Ammonites, do not harass or provoke them because I am not giving you any of the Ammonites’ land as your possession; I have already given it to Lot’s descendants as their possession.
20. (That also is considered to be a land of the Rephaites. The Rephaites lived there originally; the Ammonites call them Zamzummites.
21. They are a people as powerful, numerous, and tall as the Anakites. But the Lord destroyed the Rephaites in advance of the Ammonites, so they dispossessed them and settled down in their place.
22. This is exactly what he did for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir when he destroyed the Horites before them so that they could dispossess them and settle in their area to this very day.
23. As for the Avvites who lived in settlements as far west as Gaza, Caphtorites who came from Crete destroyed them and settled down in their place.)
24. Get up, make your way across Wadi Arnon. Look! I have already delivered over to you Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Go ahead! Take it! Engage him in war!
25. This very day I will begin to fill all the people of the earth with dread and to terrify them when they hear about you. They will shiver and shake in anticipation of your approach.”
26. Then I sent messengers from the Kedemoth Desert to King Sihon of Heshbon with an offer of peace:
27. “Let me pass through your land; I will keep strictly to the roadway. I will not turn aside to the right or the left.
28. Sell me food for cash so that I can eat and sell me water to drink. Just allow me to go through on foot,
29. just as the descendants of Esau who live at Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me, until I cross the Jordan to the land the Lord our God is giving us.”
30. But King Sihon of Heshbon was unwilling to allow us to pass near him because the Lord our God had made him obstinate and stubborn so that he might deliver him over to you this very day.
31. The Lord said to me, “Look! I have already begun to give over Sihon and his land to you. Start right now to take his land as your possession.”