Deuteronomy 2:6

Deu 2:6 Ye shall buy meat of them for money, that ye may eat; and ye shall also buy water of them for money, that ye may drink.

Ver. 6. Buy meat of them for money.] "Money answereth all things," saith Solomon. {Ecc 10:19} Money is the monarch of the world, saith another, and bears most mastery. But that covetous Caliph of Babylon, taken by Haalon, brother to Mango the great Cham of Tartary, and commanded to eat his fill of that great wealth that he had heaped up together, found ere he died, that one mouthful of meat was more worth than a whole houseful of money. {a}

{a} Turk. Hist., fol. 113.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Deu 2:6. Buy meat of them for money — For though the manna did yet rain upon them, they were not forbidden to buy other meats when they had opportunity, but only were forbidden greedily to hunger after them when they could not obtain them. Buy water — For water in those parts was scarce, and therefore private persons did severally dig pits for their particular use.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(6) Ye shall buy meat . . . and . . . water.—Comp. Gen_14:23, “Lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich,” and Deu_15:1, “I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. Ye shall purchase … ye shall buy] Heb. shabar, literally to deal in grain (Gen_41:57, etc.), but also victuals (Gen_42:7), and karah, to buy, only here Hos_3:2 and in Job. JE, Num_20:19 : if we drink of thy water, I and my cattle, then I will give the price thereof. To-day nomad Arabs, who winter in the warm ‘Arabah, seek to cross Mt Se‘îr with their cattle by one or other of several passes to summer pastures on the E. plateau and the wilderness of Moab. The passes are easily defended by the peasants of the Mt, who seek to prevent them; yet they are glad when the nomads travel on the edge of the desert, for then they can barter with them (Musil, Edom, ii. 15). Where there are no brooks but only cisterns or easily guarded springs, the peasant possessors of these will refuse to sell even small draughts to one or two passing travellers, as the writer has more than once experienced; cp. Musil, Moab, 132. It is conceivable how water would be still more jealously guarded from a large caravan or host, with appetites sufficient to exhaust the cisterns. It is implied in Deu_2:29 that Edom agreed to supply food and water.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is, if they would, as Aben Ezra observes; for though they had manna daily, yet if they would they might buy other food when they had an opportunity, as they would now have of Edom; but then they were not to take it by force or stealth, but pay for it, which they were able to do. The same writer observes, that some read the words with an interrogation, "shall ye buy meat?" no, there is no need of it; for the Lord had blessed them with a sufficiency of it:

and ye shall also buy water of them for money; that ye may drink; which was usual in those hot countries; See Gill on Num 20:19 or dig water (y) that is, pay for digging of wells for water, or buy water out of wells dug in the land of Edom. Jarchi says in maritime places they express buying by this word, and so it is used in the Arabic language; See Gill on Hos 3:2.

(y) "fodietis", Montanus.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Meats, if they wanted any other sort, besides manna. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Buy meat of them; for though the manna did yet rain upon them, they were not forbidden to buy other meats when they had opportunity, but only were forbidden greedily to hunger after them when they could not obtain them.

Buy water of them; for water in those parts was scarce, and therefore private persons did severally dig pits for their particular use. See Gen 26:18; Num 21:18.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. Buy water — The Hebrew word used implies purchasing permission to dig for water.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Buy meat - For thongh the manna did yet rain upon them, they were not forbidden to buy other meats when they had opportunity, but only were forbidden greedily to hunger after them when they could not obtain them. Buy water - For water in those parts was scarce, and therefore private persons did severally dig pits for their particular use.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

General Information:

Moses continues to instruct Israel in how they are to treat the descendants of Esau.

You will purchase food from them

Yahweh is giving them permission or instruction, not a command, and he is telling them not to steal. "I permit you to purchase food from them" or "If you need food, you are to purchase it from them"

from them

"from Esau's descendants"

for money

If these words are not needed or make the translation unclear, you may omit them.

your God has blessed you ... your hand ... your walking ... your God ... with you, and you have lacked

Moses speaks to the Israelites as if they were one man, so all instances of "you" and "your" are singular. (See: Forms of You)

you in all the work of your hand

The "work of your hand" refers to all the work they had done. AT: "all of your work" (See: Synecdoche)

he has known your walking

Here what happened to the people while they were walking is spoken of as their "walking." (See: Metonymy)

forty years

"40 years" (See: Numbers)

you have lacked nothing

This is a litotes for "you have had everything you needed." (See: Litotes)

translationWords

Yahweh

God

bless

works

hand

walk

desert

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

תכרו — This is an expression denoting purchase. Similar is (Genesis 50:5; see Rashi thereon), “which I have bought (כריתי) for myself”, for thus in the coast cities do they use for "trading” the term כירה (Rosh Hashanah 26a).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

YE SHALL PURCHASE FOOD OF THEM FOR MONEY. If you should desire to eat of the fruits of their land you should not take it from them except for the full price, 23:9. at their pleasure, this being the sense of the word me’itam (of them) [purchase food ‘of them,’ i.e., with their consent]. Also you shall not drink water of them at all, except for money with their consent.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.