Numbers 34:5

5 From Azmon the boundary will turn toward the Brook of Egypt and end at the Mediterranean Sea.

Numbers 34:5 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 34:5

And the border shall fetch a compass
Not go on in a straight line, but turn about:

from Azmon unto the river of Egypt;
the river Nile, as both the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem; but Aben Ezra seems to deny that that river is meant: and some think that Rhinocolura, which flows into the Mediterranean sea, is meant; or the "valley of Egypt", Casiotis, which divided Judea from Egypt, as follows:

and the goings out of it;
not of the river, but of the border:

shall be at the sea;
the above sea, called in the next verse the great sea; all the Targums render it to the west.

Numbers 34:5 In-Context

3 The southern portion of your country will extend from the wilderness of Zin, along the edge of Edom. The southern boundary will begin on the east at the Dead Sea.
4 It will then run south past Scorpion Pass in the direction of Zin. Its southernmost point will be Kadesh-barnea, from which it will go to Hazar-addar, and on to Azmon.
5 From Azmon the boundary will turn toward the Brook of Egypt and end at the Mediterranean Sea.
6 “Your western boundary will be the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea.
7 “Your northern boundary will begin at the Mediterranean Sea and run east to Mount Hor,

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Hebrew the sea; also in 34:6, 7 .
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