Numbers 20:18-21

20:18 But Edom said to him, “You will not pass through me, ¹  or I will come out against ²  you with the sword.” 20:19 Then the Israelites said to him, “We will go along the highway, and if we ³  or our cattle drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We will only pass through on our feet, without doing anything else.”

20:20 But he said, “You may not pass through.” Then Edom came out against them ⁴  with a large and powerful force. ⁵  20:21 So Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border; therefore Israel turned away from him.

Deuteronomy 2:5-8

2:5 Do not be hostile toward them, because I am not giving you any of their land, not even a footprint, for I have given Mount Seir ⁶  as an inheritance for Esau. 2:6 You may purchase ⁷  food to eat and water to drink from them. 2:7 All along the way I, the Lord your God, ⁸  have blessed your every effort. ⁹  I have ¹⁰  been attentive to ¹¹  your travels through this great wasteland. These forty years I have ¹²  been with you; you have lacked for nothing.’”

2:8 So we turned away from our relatives ¹³  the descendants of Esau, the inhabitants of Seir, turning from the desert route, ¹⁴  from Elat ¹⁵  and Ezion Geber, ¹⁶  and traveling the way of the Moab wastelands.

Jude 1:18

1:18 For they said to you, “In the end time there will come ¹⁷  scoffers, propelled by their own ungodly desires.” ¹⁸ 

¹ tn The imperfect tense here has the nuance of prohibition.

² tn Heb “to meet.”

³ tn The Hebrew text uses singular pronouns, “I” and “my,” but it is the people of Israel that are intended, and so it may be rendered in the plural. Similarly, Edom speaks in the first person, probably from the king. But it too could be rendered “we.”

⁴ tn Heb “to meet him.”

⁵ tn Heb “with many [heavy] people and with a strong hand.” The translation presented above is interpretive, but that is what the line means. It was a show of force, numbers and weapons, to intimidate the Israelites.

⁶ sn Mount Seir is synonymous with Edom.

⁷ tn Heb includes “with silver.”

⁸ tn The Hebrew text does not have the first person pronoun; it has been supplied for purposes of English style (the Lord is speaking here).

⁹ tn Heb “all the work of your hands.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “he has.” This has been converted to first person in the translation in keeping with English style.

¹¹ tn Heb “known” (so ASV, NASB); NAB “been concerned about.”

¹² tn Heb “the Lord your God has.” This has been replaced in the translation by the first person pronoun (“I”) in keeping with English style.

¹³ tn Or “brothers”; NRSV “our kin.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “the way of the Arabah” (so ASV); NASB, NIV “the Arabah road.”

¹⁵ sn Elat was a port city at the head of the eastern arm of the Red Sea, that is, the Gulf of Aqaba (or Gulf of Eilat). Solomon (1 Kgs 9:28), Uzziah (2 Kgs 14:22), and Ahaz (2 Kgs 16:5-6) used it as a port but eventually it became permanently part of Edom. It may be what is known today as Tell el-Kheleifeh. Modern Eilat is located further west along the northern coast. See G. Pratico, “Nelson Glueck’s 1938-1940 Excavations at Tell el-Kheleifeh: A Reappraisal,” BASOR 259 (1985): 1-32.

¹⁶ sn Ezion Geber. A place near the Gulf of Aqaba, Ezion-geber must be distinguished from Elat (cf. 1 Kgs 9:26-28; 2 Chr 8:17-18). It was, however, also a port city (1 Kgs 22:48-49). It may be the same as the modern site Gezirat al-Fauran, 15 mi (24 km) south-southwest from Tell el-Kheleifah.

¹⁷ tn Grk “be.”

¹⁸ tn Grk “going according to their own desires of ungodliness.”