Deuteronomy 2:5

³ “You have been wandering around this hill country long enough; turn to the north

⁴ and command the people: ‘You will pass through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so you must be very careful.

Do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even a footprint, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as his possession.

⁶ You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’”

⁷ Indeed, the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. The LORD your God has been with you these forty years, and you have lacked nothing.

Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: Do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even a footprint, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as his possession.
KJV: Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession.
WEB: Don’t contend with them; for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau for a possession.
ASV: contend not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession.
DARBY: attack them not; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot-breadth; for I have given mount Seir as a possession unto Esau.
BLB: Do not meddle with them, for I will not give to you⁺ of their land even the treading of the sole of a foot. For [as] a possession to Esau I have given Mount Seir.

ÅB: så dere ikke gir dere i strid med dem; jeg vil ikke gi dere så meget som en fotbredd av deres land, for jeg har gitt Esau Se'ir-fjellene til eiendom.
OTB: Ikke provoser dem til krig, for jeg vil ikke gi dere noe av deres land, ikke engang så mye som et fotavtrykk, fordi jeg har gitt Se'ir-fjellet til Esau som hans eiendom.
B1930: så I ikke gir eder i strid med dem; jeg vil ikke gi eder så meget som en fotbredd av deres land, for jeg har gitt Esau Se'ir-fjellene til eiendom.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Joshua 24:4
and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Esau Mount Seir to possess, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.
Read in context
Genesis 36:8
So Esau (that is, Edom) settled in the area of Mount Seir.
Read in context
Daniel 4:32
You will be driven away from mankind to live with the beasts of the field, and you will feed on grass like an ox. And seven times will pass you by, until you acknowledge that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes.”
Read in context
Jeremiah 27:5
By My great power and outstretched arm, I made the earth and the men and beasts on the face of it, and I give it to whom I please.
Read in context
Acts 17:26
From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.
Read in context
Acts 7:5
He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised to give possession of the land to Abraham and his descendants, even though he did not yet have a child.
Read in context
2 Chronicles 20:10–12
And now, here are the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, whom You did not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt; but Israel turned away from them and did not destroy them.
Read in context
Deuteronomy 32:8
When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He divided the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.
Read in context