Deuteronomy 2:4-6

2:4 Instruct ¹  these people as follows: ‘You are about to cross the border of your relatives ²  the descendants of Esau, ³  who inhabit Seir. They will be afraid of you, so watch yourselves carefully. 2:5 Do not be hostile toward them, because I am not giving you any of their land, not even a footprint, for I have given Mount Seir ⁴  as an inheritance for Esau. 2:6 You may purchase ⁵  food to eat and water to drink from them.

¹ tn Heb “command” (so KJV, NASB); NRSV “charge the people as follows.”

² tn Heb “brothers”; NAB “your kinsmen.”

³ sn The descendants of Esau (Heb “sons of Esau”; the phrase also occurs in 2:8, 12, 22, 29). These are the inhabitants of the land otherwise known as Edom, south and east of the Dead Sea. Jacob’s brother Esau had settled there after his bitter strife with Jacob (Gen 36:1-8). “Edom” means “reddish,” probably because of the red sandstone of the region, but also by popular etymology because Esau, at birth, was reddish (Gen 25:25).

⁴ sn Mount Seir is synonymous with Edom.

⁵ tn Heb includes “with silver.”