1Then we turned and set out into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea, just as the LORD had spoken to me, and we went around Mount Seir for many days.2The LORD spoke to me and said,3You have circled this mountain long enough; turn north.4And give this command to the people: You are about to cross the territory of your relatives, the descendants of Esau who live in Seir; they will be afraid of you, so be very careful.5Do not provoke them, because I will not give you even a foot's breadth of their land as a possession, since I have already given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.6You may purchase food from them with silver so you can eat, and you may also buy water from them with silver so you can drink.7For the LORD your God has blessed you in everything you have done; he has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness; these forty years the LORD your God has been with you, and you have lacked nothing.8So we went past our relatives, the descendants of Esau who live in Seir, taking the route of the Arabah from Elath and Ezion-geber; then we turned and traveled along the wilderness road of Moab.9The LORD said to me, "Do not attack Moab or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession."10The Emim had lived there previously, a large and numerous people as tall as the Anakites.11Like the Anakites, they are also regarded as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them the Emim.12Earlier the Horites lived in Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed and destroyed them and settled in their place, just as Israel did with the land that the LORD gave them as their possession.13Now set out and cross the Zered Valley; so we crossed the Zered Valley.14The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley was thirty-eight years, long enough for the entire generation of fighting men to perish from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.15Moreover, the LORD's hand was against them, confounding them inside the camp until they were destroyed.16Once every fighting man had perished from among the people,17The LORD spoke to me and said,18Today you are crossing the border of Moab at Ar.19When you approach the territory of the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them, because I will not give you any of the land of the Ammonites as a possession, since I have already given it to the descendants of Lot as a possession.20It too is regarded as a land of the Rephaim, for the Rephaim formerly lived there, though the Ammonites call them Zamzummin.21They were a large, numerous, and tall people like the Anakites, yet the LORD destroyed them before the Ammonites, who then took possession of their land and settled there.22This is what the LORD did for the descendants of Esau who live in Seir when he destroyed the Horites before them; the descendants of Esau took possession of their land and have lived there to this day.23As for the Avvim who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim who came from Caphtor destroyed them and settled in their place.