2:8 So we turned away from our relatives 1 the descendants of Esau, the inhabitants of Seir, turning from the desert route, 2 from Elat 3 and Ezion Geber, 4 and traveling the way of the Moab wastelands.
1 tn Or “brothers”; NRSV “our kin.”
2 tn Heb “the way of the Arabah” (so ASV); NASB, NIV “the Arabah road.”
3 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.
4 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.
5 tn Heb “men, sons of Belial.” The Hebrew term בְּלִיַּעַל (bÿliyya’al) has the idea of worthlessness, without morals or scruples (HALOT 133-34 s.v.). Cf. NAB, NRSV “scoundrels”; TEV, CEV “worthless people”; NLT “worthless rabble.”
6 tc The LXX and Tg read “your” for the MT’s “their.”
7 tn The translation understands the relative clause as a statement by Moses, not as part of the quotation from the evildoers. See also v. 2.