Deuteronomy 2:1

1 "[Then] we turned and set out [toward] the wilderness in the direction of the {Red Sea}, as Yahweh told me, and we went around Mount Seir [for] many days.

Deuteronomy 2:1 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 2:1

Then we turned
From Kadesh, where they had been many days, and so also their backs on the land of Canaan, on the borders of which they had been:

and took our journey into the wilderness, by the way of the Red sea, as
the Lord spake unto me;
( Deuteronomy 1:40 )

and we compassed Mount Seir many days;
many think by Mount Seir is meant the whole mountainous country of Edom, about which they travelled to and fro in the wilderness that lay near it for the space of thirty eight years, which they suppose are meant by many days; but I rather think they came to this mount towards the close of the thirty eight years, before they came to Kadesh, from whence they sent messengers to Edom, which they went round about for several days,

Deuteronomy 2:1 In-Context

1 "[Then] we turned and set out [toward] the wilderness in the direction of the {Red Sea}, as Yahweh told me, and we went around Mount Seir [for] many days.

2 Yahweh spoke to me, {saying},

3 '[Long] enough you have been skirting this mountain; turn yourselves north,

4 and instruct the people, {saying}, "You [are] about to cross [through] the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who are living in Seir; they will be afraid of you, and [so] be very careful.

5 Do not get involved in battle with them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even {a foot's breadth} [of it]; since I have given Mount Seir [as] a possession for Esau.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "desert"
• [b]. Literally "sea of reeds"