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.
2. Then the Lord spoke to me. He said,
3. "You have made your way around this hill country long enough. So now turn north.
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.
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.
6. Pay them with silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.' "
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.
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.
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."
10. The Emites used to live there. They were strong people. There were large numbers of them. They were as tall as the Anakites.
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.
13. The Lord said, "Now get up. Go across the Zered Valley." So we went across it.