Genesis 15:18

15:18 That day the Lord made a covenant ¹  with Abram: “To your descendants I give ²  this land, from the river of Egypt ³  to the great river, the Euphrates River –

Exodus 23:31

23:31 I will set ⁴  your boundaries from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River, ⁵  for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.

Numbers 34:5

34:5 There the border will turn from Azmon to the Brook of Egypt, and then its direction is to the sea. ⁶ 

Joshua 13:3

13:3 from the Shihor River ⁷  east of ⁸  Egypt northward to the territory of Ekron (it is regarded as Canaanite territory), ⁹  including the area belonging to the five Philistine lords who ruled in Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, as well as Avvite land ¹⁰ 

¹ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

² tn The perfect verbal form is understood as instantaneous (“I here and now give”). Another option is to understand it as rhetorical, indicating certitude (“I have given” meaning it is as good as done, i.e., “I will surely give”).

³ sn The river of Egypt is a wadi (a seasonal stream) on the northeastern border of Egypt, not to the River Nile.

⁴ tn The form is a perfect tense with vav consecutive.

⁵ tn In the Hebrew Bible “the River” usually refers to the Euphrates (cf. NASB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT). There is some thought that it refers to a river Nahr el Kebir between Lebanon and Syria. See further W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:447; and G. W. Buchanan, The Consequences of the Covenant (NovTSup), 91-100.

⁶ sn That is, the Mediterranean.

⁷ tn Heb “the Shihor”; the word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied to clarify the meaning.

⁸ tn Heb “in front of.”

⁹ tn Heb “it is reckoned to the Canaanites.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “the five lords of the Philistines, the Gazaite, the Ashdodite, the Ashkelonite, the Gathite, and the Ekronite, and the Avvites.”