And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore:
The children of Esau ... shall be afraid of you. The same people who had haughtily repelled the approach of the Israelites from the western frontier were alarmed now that they had come round upon the weak side of their country. It seems, from the Israelites having free access to the pastures on mount Hor and its neighbourhood, that the Edomites would have laid them under no restriction or prohibition so long as they did not encroach on the cultivated parts of their country.