Bilangan 21:4

Fiery Serpents

21:4 Then they traveled from Mount Hor by the road to the Red Sea, ¹  to go around the land of Edom, but the people ²  became impatient along the way.

Ulangan 2:8

2:8 So we turned away from our relatives ³  the descendants of Esau, the inhabitants of Seir, turning from the desert route, ⁴  from Elat ⁵  and Ezion Geber, ⁶  and traveling the way of the Moab wastelands.

Hakim-hakim 11:18

11:18 Then Israel ⁷  went through the desert and bypassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab. They traveled east of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon River; ⁸  they did not go through Moabite territory (the Arnon was Moab’s border).

[21:4]  ¹ tn The “Red Sea” is the general designation for the bodies of water on either side of the Sinai peninsula, even though they are technically gulfs from the Red Sea.

[21:4]  ² tn Heb “the soul of the people,” expressing the innermost being of the people as they became frustrated.

[2:8]  ³ tn Or “brothers”; NRSV “our kin.”

[2:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “the way of the Arabah” (so ASV); NASB, NIV “the Arabah road.”

[2:8]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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.

[11:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Israel; the pronoun in the Hebrew text represents a collective singular) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:18]  ⁸ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.