Deuteronomy 1:2

1:2 Now it is ordinarily an eleven-day journey ¹  from Horeb ²  to Kadesh Barnea ³  by way of Mount Seir. ⁴ 

Deuteronomy 1:44

1:44 The Amorite inhabitants of that area ⁵  confronted ⁶  you and chased you like a swarm of bees, striking you down from Seir as far as Hormah. ⁷ 

Deuteronomy 2:1

The Journey from Kadesh Barnea to Moab

2:1 Then we turned and set out toward the desert land on the way to the Red Sea ⁸  just as the Lord told me to do, detouring around Mount Seir for a long time.

Deuteronomy 2:4

2:4 Instruct ⁹  these people as follows: ‘You are about to cross the border of your relatives ¹⁰  the descendants of Esau, ¹¹  who inhabit Seir. They will be afraid of you, so watch yourselves carefully.

Deuteronomy 2:8

2:8 So we turned away from our relatives ¹²  the descendants of Esau, the inhabitants of Seir, turning from the desert route, ¹³  from Elat ¹⁴  and Ezion Geber, ¹⁵  and traveling the way of the Moab wastelands.

Deuteronomy 2:22

2:22 This is exactly what he did for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir when he destroyed the Horites before them so that they could dispossess them and settle in their area to this very day.

Deuteronomy 33:2

33:2 He said:

A Historical Review

The Lord came from Sinai

and revealed himself ¹⁶  to Israel ¹⁷  from Seir.

He appeared in splendor ¹⁸  from Mount Paran,

and came forth with ten thousand holy ones. ¹⁹ 

With his right hand he gave a fiery law ²⁰  to them.

Deuteronomy 2:5

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 ²¹  as an inheritance for Esau.

Deuteronomy 2:12

2:12 Previously the Horites ²²  lived in Seir but the descendants of Esau dispossessed and destroyed them and settled in their place, just as Israel did to the land it came to possess, the land the Lord gave them.) ²³ 

Deuteronomy 2:29

2:29 just as the descendants of Esau who live at Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me, until I cross the Jordan to the land the Lord our God is giving us.”

[1:2]  ¹ sn An eleven-day journey was about 140 mi (233 km).

[1:2]  ² sn Horeb is another name for Sinai. “Horeb” occurs 9 times in the Book of Deuteronomy and “Sinai” only once (33:2). “Sinai” occurs 13 times in the Book of Exodus and “Horeb” only 3 times.

[1:2]  ³ sn Kadesh Barnea. Possibly this refers to àAin Qudeis, about 50 mi (80 km) southwest of Beer Sheba, but more likely to àAin Qudeirat, 5 mi (8 km) NW of àAin Qudeis. See R. Cohen, “Did I Excavate Kadesh-Barnea?” BAR 7 (1981): 20-33.

[1:2]  ⁴ sn Mount Seir is synonymous with Edom. “By way of Mount Seir” refers to the route from Horeb that ended up in Edom Cf. CEV “by way of the Mount Seir Road”; TEV “by way of the hill country of Edom.”

[1:44]  ⁵ tn Heb “in that hill country,” repeating the end of v. 43.

[1:44]  ⁶ tn Heb “came out to meet.”

[1:44]  ⁷ sn Hormah is probably Khirbet el-Meshash, 5.5 mi (9 km) west of Arad and 7.5 mi (12 km) SE of Beer Sheba. Its name is a derivative of the verb חָרָם (kharam, “to ban; to exterminate”). See Num 21:3.

[2:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “Reed Sea.” See note on the term “Red Sea” in Deut 1:40.

[2:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “command” (so KJV, NASB); NRSV “charge the people as follows.”

[2:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “brothers”; NAB “your kinsmen.”

[2:4]  ¹⁵ sn The descendants of Esau (Heb “sons of Esau”; the phrase also occurs in 2:8, 12, 22, 29). These are the inhabitants of the land otherwise known as Edom, south and east of the Dead Sea. Jacob’s brother Esau had settled there after his bitter strife with Jacob (Gen 36:1-8). “Edom” means “reddish,” probably because of the red sandstone of the region, but also by popular etymology because Esau, at birth, was reddish (Gen 25:25).

[2:8]  ¹⁷ tn Or “brothers”; NRSV “our kin.”

[2:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the way of the Arabah” (so ASV); NASB, NIV “the Arabah road.”

[2:8]  ¹⁹ 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.

[2:8]  ²⁰ 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.

[33:2]  ²¹ tn Or “rose like the sun” (NCV, TEV).

[33:2]  ²² tc Heb “to him.” The LXX reads “to us” (לָנוּ [lanu] for לָמוֹ [lamo]), the reading of the MT is acceptable since it no doubt has in mind Israel as a collective singular.

[33:2]  ²³ tn Or “he shone forth” (NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[33:2]  ²⁴ tc With slight alteration (מִמְרִבַת קָדֵשׁ [mimrivat qadesh] for the MT’s מֵרִבְבֹת קֹדֶשׁ [merivvot qodesh]) the translation would be “from Meribah Kadesh” (cf. NAB, NLT; see Deut 32:51). However, the language of holy war in the immediate context favors the reading of the MT, which views the Lord as accompanied by angelic hosts.

[33:2]  ²⁵ tc The mispointed Hebrew term אֵשְׁדָּת (’eshdat) should perhaps be construed as אֵשְׁהַת (’eshhat) with Smr.

[2:5]  ²⁵ sn Mount Seir is synonymous with Edom.

[2:12]  ²⁹ sn Horites. Most likely these are the same as the well-known people of ancient Near Eastern texts described as Hurrians. They were geographically widespread and probably non-Semitic. Genesis speaks of them as the indigenous peoples of Edom that Esau expelled (Gen 36:8-19, 31-43) and also as among those who confronted the kings of the east (Gen 14:6).

[2:12]  ³⁰ tn Most modern English versions, beginning with the ASV (1901), regard vv. 10-12 as parenthetical to the narrative.