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 ¹  as an inheritance for Esau. 2:6 You may purchase ²  food to eat and water to drink from them. 2:7 All along the way I, the Lord your God, ³  have blessed your every effort. ⁴  I have ⁵  been attentive to ⁶  your travels through this great wasteland. These forty years I have ⁷  been with you; you have lacked for nothing.’”

2:8 So we turned away from our relatives ⁸  the descendants of Esau, the inhabitants of Seir, turning from the desert route, ⁹  from Elat ¹⁰  and Ezion Geber, ¹¹  and traveling the way of the Moab wastelands.

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¹ sn Mount Seir is synonymous with Edom.

² tn Heb includes “with silver.”

³ 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).

⁴ tn Heb “all the work of your hands.”

⁵ tn Heb “he has.” This has been converted to first person in the translation in keeping with English style.

⁶ tn Heb “known” (so ASV, NASB); NAB “been concerned about.”

⁷ 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.

⁸ tn Or “brothers”; NRSV “our kin.”

⁹ tn Heb “the way of the Arabah” (so ASV); NASB, NIV “the Arabah road.”

¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ 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.