Deuteronomy 2:7-9
New English Translation
7 All along the way I, the Lord your God,[a] have blessed your every effort.[b] I have[c] been attentive to[d] your travels through this great wilderness. These forty years I have[e] been with you; you have lacked nothing.’”
8 So we turned away from our relatives[f] the descendants of Esau, the inhabitants of Seir, turning from the route of the rift valley[g] which comes up from[h] Elat[i] and Ezion Geber,[j] and traveling the way of the wilderness of Moab. 9 Then the Lord said to me, “Do not harass Moab and provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as your territory. This is because I have given Ar[k] to the descendants of Lot[l] as their possession.
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- Deuteronomy 2:7 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).
- Deuteronomy 2:7 tn Heb “all the work of your hands.”
- Deuteronomy 2:7 tn Heb “he has.” This has been converted to first person in the translation in keeping with English style.
- Deuteronomy 2:7 tn Heb “known” (so ASV, NASB); NAB “been concerned about.”
- Deuteronomy 2:7 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.
- Deuteronomy 2:8 tn Or “brothers”; NRSV “our kin.”
- Deuteronomy 2:8 sn As a geographic feature the rift valley (עֲרָבָה, ʿaravah) extends from the Gulf of Aqaba to Galilee. Traveling up the middle of the rift valley probably would have been the easiest path, at least up to the Dead Sea.
- Deuteronomy 2:8 tn Heb “from.”
- Deuteronomy 2:8 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 farther 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.
- Deuteronomy 2:8 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.
- Deuteronomy 2:9 sn Ar was a Moabite city on the Arnon River east of the Dead Sea. It is mentioned elsewhere in the “Book of the Wars of Yahweh” (Num 21:15; cf. 21:28; Isa 15:1). Here it is synonymous with the whole land of Moab.
- Deuteronomy 2:9 sn The descendants of Lot. Following the destruction of the cities of the plain, Sodom and Gomorrah, as God’s judgment, Lot fathered two sons by his two daughters, namely, Moab and Ammon (Gen 19:30-38). Thus, these descendants of Lot in and around Ar were the Moabites.
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