Ezekiel 27:20

27:20 Dedan was your client in saddlecloths for riding.

Genesis 10:7

10:7 The sons of Cush were Seba, ¹  Havilah, ²  Sabtah, ³  Raamah, ⁴  and Sabteca. ⁵  The sons of Raamah were Sheba ⁶  and Dedan. ⁷ 

Genesis 25:3

25:3 Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. ⁸  The descendants of Dedan were the Asshurites, Letushites, and Leummites.

Genesis 25:1

The Death of Abraham

25:1 Abraham had taken ⁹  another ¹⁰  wife, named Keturah.

Genesis 1:9

1:9 God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place ¹¹  and let dry ground appear.” ¹²  It was so.

Genesis 1:1

The Creation of the World

1:1 In the beginning ¹³  God ¹⁴  created ¹⁵  the heavens and the earth. ¹⁶ 

Jeremiah 25:23

25:23 the people of Dedan, Tema, Buz, ¹⁷  all the desert people who cut their hair short at the temples; ¹⁸ 

Jeremiah 49:8

49:8 Turn and flee! Take up refuge in remote places, ¹⁹ 

you people who live in Dedan. ²⁰ 

For I will bring disaster on the descendants of Esau.

I have decided it is time for me to punish them. ²¹ 

[10:7]  ¹ sn The descendants of Seba settled in Upper Egypt along the Nile.

[10:7]  ² sn The Hebrew name Havilah apparently means “stretch of sand” (see HALOT 297 s.v. חֲוִילָה). Havilah’s descendants settled in eastern Arabia.

[10:7]  ³ sn The descendants of Sabtah settled near the western shore of the Persian Gulf in ancient Hadhramaut.

[10:7]  ⁴ sn The descendants of Raamah settled in southwest Arabia.

[10:7]  ⁵ sn The descendants of Sabteca settled in Samudake, east toward the Persian Gulf.

[10:7]  ⁶ sn Sheba became the name of a kingdom in southwest Arabia.

[10:7]  ⁷ sn The name Dedan is associated with àUla in northern Arabia.

[25:3]  ⁸ sn The names Sheba and Dedan appear in Gen 10:7 as descendants of Ham through Cush and Raamah. Since these two names are usually interpreted to be place names, one plausible suggestion is that some of Abraham’s descendants lived in those regions and took names linked with it.

[25:1]  ⁹ tn Or “took.”

[25:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “And Abraham added and took.”

[1:9]  ¹¹ sn Let the water…be gathered to one place. In the beginning the water covered the whole earth; now the water was to be restricted to an area to form the ocean. The picture is one of the dry land as an island with the sea surrounding it. Again the sovereignty of God is revealed. Whereas the pagans saw the sea as a force to be reckoned with, God controls the boundaries of the sea. And in the judgment at the flood he will blur the boundaries so that chaos returns.

[1:9]  ¹² tn When the waters are collected to one place, dry land emerges above the surface of the receding water.

[1:1]  ¹³ tn The translation assumes that the form translated “beginning” is in the absolute state rather than the construct (“in the beginning of,” or “when God created”). In other words, the clause in v. 1 is a main clause, v. 2 has three clauses that are descriptive and supply background information, and v. 3 begins the narrative sequence proper. The referent of the word “beginning” has to be defined from the context since there is no beginning or ending with God.

[1:1]  ¹⁴ sn God. This frequently used Hebrew name for God (אֱלֹהִים,’elohim ) is a plural form. When it refers to the one true God, the singular verb is normally used, as here. The plural form indicates majesty; the name stresses God’s sovereignty and incomparability – he is the “God of gods.”

[1:1]  ¹⁵ tn The English verb “create” captures well the meaning of the Hebrew term in this context. The verb בָּרָא (bara’) always describes the divine activity of fashioning something new, fresh, and perfect. The verb does not necessarily describe creation out of nothing (see, for example, v. 27, where it refers to the creation of man); it often stresses forming anew, reforming, renewing (see Ps 51:10; Isa 43:15, 65:17).

[1:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “the entire universe”; or “the sky and the dry land.” This phrase is often interpreted as a merism, referring to the entire ordered universe, including the heavens and the earth and everything in them. The “heavens and the earth” were completed in seven days (see Gen 2:1) and are characterized by fixed laws (see Jer 33:25). “Heavens” refers specifically to the sky, created on the second day (see v. 8), while “earth” refers specifically to the dry land, created on the third day (see v. 10). Both are distinct from the sea/seas (see v. 10 and Exod 20:11).

[25:23]  ¹⁷ sn Dedan and Tema are mentioned together in Isa 21:13-14 and located in the desert. They were located in the northern part of the Arabian peninsula south and east of Ezion Geber. Buz is not mentioned anywhere else and its location is unknown. Judgment against Dedan and Tema is mentioned in conjunction with the judgment on Edom in Jer 47:7-8.

[25:23]  ¹⁸ tn For the discussion regarding the meaning of the terms here see the notes on 9:26.

[49:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “make deep to dwell.” The meaning of this phrase is debated. Some take it as a reference for the Dedanites who were not native to Edom to go down from the heights of Edom and go back home (so G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, T. G. Smothers, Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 330). The majority of commentaries, however, take it as a reference to the Dedanites disassociating themselves from the Edomites and finding remote hiding places to live in (so J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah [NICOT], 718). For the options see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 2:375.

[49:8]  ²⁰ sn Dedan. The Dedanites were an Arabian tribe who lived to the southeast of Edom. They are warned here to disassociate themselves from Edom because Edom is about to suffer disaster.

[49:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “For I will bring the disaster of Esau upon him, the time when I will punish him.” Esau was the progenitor of the tribes and nation of Edom (cf. Gen 36:1, 8, 9, 19).