Genesis 13:12

13:12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled among the cities of the Jordan plain ¹  and pitched his tents next to Sodom.

Genesis 25:18

25:18 His descendants ²  settled from Havilah to Shur, which runs next ³  to Egypt all the way ⁴  to Asshur. ⁵  They settled ⁶  away from all their relatives. ⁷ 

Genesis 11:2

11:2 When the people ⁸  moved eastward, ⁹  they found a plain in Shinar ¹⁰  and settled there.

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¹ tn Or “the cities of the plain”; Heb “[the cities of] the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

² tn Heb “they”; the referent (Ishmael’s descendants) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Heb “which is by the face of,” or near the border. The territory ran along the border of Egypt.

⁴ tn Heb “as you go.”

⁵ sn The name Asshur refers here to a tribal area in the Sinai.

⁶ tn Heb “he fell.”

⁷ tn Heb “upon the face of all his brothers.” This last expression, obviously alluding to the earlier oracle about Ishmael (Gen 16:12), could mean that the descendants of Ishmael lived in hostility to others or that they lived in a territory that was opposite the lands of their relatives. While there is some ambiguity about the meaning, the line probably does give a hint of the Ishmaelite-Israelite conflicts to come.

⁸ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁹ tn Or perhaps “from the east” (NRSV) or “in the east.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “in the land of Shinar.”

sn Shinar is the region of Babylonia.