Ulangan 2:7-8

2:7 All along the way I, the Lord your God, ¹  have blessed your every effort. ²  I have ³  been attentive to ⁴  your travels through this great wasteland. These forty years I have ⁵  been with you; you have lacked for nothing.’”

2:8 So we turned away from our relatives ⁶  the descendants of Esau, the inhabitants of Seir, turning from the desert route, ⁷  from Elat ⁸  and Ezion Geber, ⁹  and traveling the way of the Moab wastelands.

Ulangan 8:15

8:15 and who brought you through the great, fearful desert of venomous serpents ¹⁰  and scorpions, an arid place with no water. He made water flow ¹¹  from a flint rock and

[2:7]  ¹ 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).

[2:7]  ² tn Heb “all the work of your hands.”

[2:7]  ³ tn Heb “he has.” This has been converted to first person in the translation in keeping with English style.

[2:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “known” (so ASV, NASB); NAB “been concerned about.”

[2:7]  ⁵ 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.

[2:8]  ⁶ tn Or “brothers”; NRSV “our kin.”

[2:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “the way of the Arabah” (so ASV); NASB, NIV “the Arabah road.”

[2:8]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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.

[8:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “flaming serpents”; KJV, NASB “fiery serpents”; NAB “saraph serpents.” This figure of speech (metonymy) probably describes the venomous and painful results of snakebite. The feeling from such an experience would be like a burning fire (שָׂרָף, saraf).

[8:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the one who brought out for you water.” In the Hebrew text this continues the preceding sentence, but the translation begins a new sentence here for stylistic reasons.