Numbers 20:19

20:19 Then the Israelites said to him, “We will go along the highway, and if we ¹  or our cattle drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We will only pass through on our feet, without doing anything else.”

Numbers 21:22

21:22 “Let us ²  pass through your land; ³  we will not turn aside into the fields or into the vineyards, nor will we drink water from any well, but we will go along the King’s Highway until we pass your borders.”

[20:19]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text uses singular pronouns, “I” and “my,” but it is the people of Israel that are intended, and so it may be rendered in the plural. Similarly, Edom speaks in the first person, probably from the king. But it too could be rendered “we.”

[21:22]  ² tn The Hebrew text uses the singular in these verses to match the reference to “Israel.”

[21:22]  ³ tc Smr has “by the King’s way I will go. I will not turn aside to the right or the left.”