Numbers 20:18

But the king of Edom refused. He replied, “Stay out of my country! If you try to enter it, I will send my army to attack you!”

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword.

In Context

17Please allow us to travel through your country. We will be careful to not walk through your fields and your vineyards. We will not even drink water from your wells. As we travel, we will stay on the king’s highway, the main road that goes from the south to the north, and we will not leave that road until we have crossed the border of your country in the north.”

19The Israeli messengers replied, “ If we travel through your country, we will stay on the main road. If we and any of our livestock drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We want only to travel through your country. We do not want anything else.”

Read all of Numbers 20

Cross References

Numbers 21:4Then the Israelis left Hor Mountain and traveled on the road towards the Red Sea, in order to go around the land of Edom. But the people became impatient along the way,

Deuteronomy 2:29until we cross the Jordan River into the land that Yahweh our God is giving to us. Do for us just as the descendants of Esau who live in the Edom area and the Moab people-group did for us when they allowed us to go through their areas.’

Matthew Henry on Numbers 20:15-22

Ambassadors Sent to Edom. ( b. c. 1452.) 14 And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us: 15 How our fathers went down into Egypt, and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians vexed us, and our fathers: 16 And when we cried unto the Lord , he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt: and, behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border: 17 Let us pass, I… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Numbers 20:18