1 we finally turned and went into the desert, along the road to the Gulf of Aqaba, as the Lord had commanded, and we spent a long time wandering about in the hill country of Edom.
2 “Then the Lord told me
3 that we had spent enough time wandering about in those hills and that we should go north.
4 He told me to give you the following instructions: ‘You are about to go through the hill country of Edom, the territory of your distant relatives, the descendants of Esau. They will be afraid of you,
5 but you must not start a war with them, because I am not going to give you so much as a square metre of their land. I have given Edom to Esau's descendants.
6 You may buy food and water from them.’
7 “Remember how the Lord your God has blessed you in everything that you have done. He has taken care of you as you wandered through this vast desert. He has been with you these forty years, and you have had everything you needed.