It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea.
Parallel Translations
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It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea.
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(There are eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadesh-barnea.)
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It is eleven days journey from Horeb unto Kadesh-barnea by the way of mount Seir.
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Deuteronomy 1:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Numbers 13:26 They went and came to Moses, to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, to the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word to them and to all the congregation. They showed them the fruit of the land.
- Numbers 32:8 Your fathers did so when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land.
- Deuteronomy 9:23 When Yahweh sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, “Go up and possess the land which I have given you,” you rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh your God, and you didn’t believe him or listen to his voice.
- Exodus 3:1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God’s mountain, to Horeb.
- Leviticus 2:14 “ ‘If you offer a meal offering of first fruits to Yahweh, you shall offer for the meal offering of your first fruits fresh heads of grain parched with fire and crushed.
- Leviticus 9:23 Moses and Aaron went into the Tent of Meeting, and came out, and blessed the people; and Yahweh’s glory appeared to all the people.
- Numbers 20:17-21 “Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or through vineyard, neither will we drink from the water of the wells. We will go along the king’s highway. We will not turn away to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed your border.” Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through me, lest I come out with the sword against you.” The children of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the highway; and if we drink your water, I and my livestock, then I will give its price. Only let me, without doing anything else, pass through on my feet.” He said, “You shall not pass through.” Edom came out against him with many people, and with a strong hand. Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border, so Israel turned away from him.
- Deuteronomy 1:44 The Amorites, who lived in that hill country, came out against you and chased you as bees do, and beat you down in Seir, even to Hormah.
- Deuteronomy 2:4 Command the people, saying, ‘You are to pass through the border of your brothers, the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. Therefore be careful.
- Deuteronomy 2:8 So we passed by from our brothers, the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, from the way of the Arabah from Elath and from Ezion Geber. We turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.
- Joshua 14:6 Then the children of Judah came near to Joshua in Gilgal. Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know the thing that Yahweh spoke to Moses the man of God concerning me and concerning you in Kadesh Barnea.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain In Horeb, or Sinai, forty years before this the…
In Horeb, or Sinai, forty years before this the Law was given: but because all that were then of age and judgment were now dead, Moses repeateth the same to the youth which either then were not born, or had not judgment.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Deu 1:2 ([There are] eleven days’ [journey] from Horeb…
Deu 1:2 ([There are] eleven days’ [journey] from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadeshbarnea.)
Ver. 2. There are eleven days’journey.] So many days’ march for a foot army. But Philo the Jew saith a horseman might despatch it in three days. {a}
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{a} Triduo confici potuit.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain This is added to show that the reason why…
This is added to show that the reason why the Israelites in so many years were advanced no further from Horeb than to these plains, was not the great distance of the places or length of the way, which was but a journey of eleven days at most, but because of their rebellions, as is mentioned before and repeated in this book.
Horeb, or
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Sinai, the place where the law was given, which is promiscuously called by both those names.
Mount Seir, or Mount Edom, i.e. the mountainous country of Seir, which was first possessed by the Horims, and afterwards by the Edomites, Deu 2:12.
Kadesh-barnea was not far from the borders of Canaan. See Gen 16:14; Num 13:26.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain There are eleven days' journey from Horeb, by the…
There are eleven days' journey from Horeb, by the way of Mount Seir, to Kadeshbarnea. Not that the Israelites came thither in eleven days from Horeb, for they stayed by the way at Kibrothhattaavah, a whole month at least, and seven days at Hazeroth; but the sense is, that this was the computed distance between the two places; it was what was reckoned a man might walk in eleven days; and if we reckon a day's journey twenty miles, of which See Gill on Jon 3:3, the distance must be two hundred and twenty miles. But Dr. Shaw (e) allows but ten miles for a day's journey, and then it was no more than one hundred and ten, and indeed a camp cannot be thought to move faster; but not the day's journey of a camp, but of a man, seems to be intended, who may very well walk twenty miles a day for eleven days running; but it seems more strange that another learned traveller (f) should place Kadeshbarnea at eight hours, or ninety miles distance only from Mount Sinai. Moses computes not the time that elapsed between those two places, including their stations, but only the time of travelling; and yet Jarchi says, though it was eleven days' journey according to common computation, the Israelites performed it in three days; for he observes that they set out from Horeb on the twentieth of Ijar, and on the twenty ninth of Sivan the spies were sent out from Kadeshbarnea; and if you take from hence the whole month they were at one place, and the seven days at another, there will be but three days left for them to travel in. And he adds, that the Shechinah, or divine Majesty, pushed them forward, to hasten their going into the land; but they corrupting themselves, he turned them about Mount Seir forty years. It is not easy to say for what reason these words are expressed, unless it be to show in how short a time the Israelites might have been in the land of Canaan, in a few days' journey from Horeb, had it not been for their murmurings and unbelief, for which they were turned into the wilderness again, and travelled about for the space of thirty eight years afterwards. Aben Ezra is of opinion, that the eleven days, for the word "journey" is not in the text, are to be connected with the preceding words; and that the sense is, that Moses spake these words in the above places, in the eleven days they went from Horeb to Kadesh.
(e) De loc. Heb. fol. 92. I. (f) Pococke's Description of the East, vol. 1. p. 157.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain There are eleven days journey - This is added…
There are eleven days journey - This is added to shew that the reason why the Israelites, in so many years were advanced no farther from Horeb, than to these plains, was not the distance of the places but because of their rebellions. Kadesh-barnea - Which was not far from the borders of Canaan.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 2. There are eleven days' journey] The Israelites…
Verse 2. There are eleven days' journey] The Israelites were eleven days in going from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea, where they were near the verge of the promised land; after which they were thirty-eight years wandering up and down in the vicinity of this place, not being permitted, because of their rebellions, to enter into the promised rest, though they were the whole of that time within a few miles of the land of Canaan!
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Deu 1:2. There are eleven days’ journey — This…
Deu 1:2. There are eleven days’ journey — This is added, to show that the reason why the Israelites in so many years were advanced no farther from Horeb than to these plains, was not the distance of the places, but because of their rebellions. Kadesh-barnea — Which was not far from the borders of Canaan.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Cades-barne. All the distance between Horeb and the Jordan,…
Cades-barne. All the distance between Horeb and the Jordan, by Mount Seir, on the road to Cades-barne, might have been traveled in eleven days’ time, being about 300 miles; or the Hebrews were so long in going thither, Numbers xxxiii. 17. (Calmet) --- It was to punish the Israelites for their frequent rebellions, that they were condemned to wander in that wilderness for forty years. (Du Hamel) --- They might have entered the promised land when they first came to Cades-barne, from Mount Horeb, (Numbers xiii. 1, 27,) which, even by the circuitous road of Mount Seir, would not have taken them above eleven days. He mentions this to remind them of their folly. Perhaps all the aforesaid places may have been between Horeb and Cades-barne, as Bonfrere maintains that Laban was in the neighbourhood of Sinai, where Moses first received the law which he is now going to explain. His discourse turns upon the chief occurrences of the forty years’ journey; and hence, these are the words, (ver. 1,) may refer not only to what he was going to say, but also to the commands which he had already notified to the Israelites, from the passage of the Red Sea till the station Abelsetim, upon the banks of the Jordan, Numbers xxxvi. 13. (Haydock) --- Deuteronomy contains a recapitulation of the law, and therefore it was to be read aloud to all the people on the feast of tabernacles, every seventh year; and the new kings, or rulers of the Hebrews, were commanded to transcribe it, and every day read some part for the rule of their conduct, chap. xvii. 18., and xxxi. 10. (Tirinus)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain There are eleven days' journey from Horeb--Distances are computed…
There are eleven days' journey from Horeb--Distances are computed in the East still by the hours or days occupiesd by the journey. A day's journey on foot is about twenty miles--on camels, at the rate of three miles an hour, thirty miles--and by caravans, about twenty-five miles. But the Israelites, with children and flocks, would move at a slow rate. The length of the Ghor from Ezion-geber to Kadesh is a hundred miles. The days here mentioned were not necessarily successive days [ROBINSON], for the journey can be made in a much shorter period. But this mention of the time was made to show that the great number of years spent in travelling from Horeb to the plain of Moab was not owing to the length of the way, but to a very different cause; namely, banishment for their apostasy and frequent rebellions.
mount Seir--the mountainous country of Edom.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2. It is eleven days’, etc.] The distance from…
2. It is eleven days’, etc.] The distance from the accepted position of Ḥoreb-Sinai to that of Ḳadesh, ‘Ain Ḳudeis, is ‘10 or 11 days of common camel-riding’ (C. Trumbull K. B. 71, 215): caravans with children and flocks, like Israel’s, would of course take longer.
Horeb] Always in E, and Deut., as in 1 Kings 19 and Malachi, the name of the Mt of the Lawgiving, for which J and P have Sinai. The attempt has been made to interpret the two names as of different sites; but the Biblical evidence for their identity is clear; as even so early a scholar as Jerome perceived (Onom. Sacr. ed. Lagarde, 146). This matter as well as the questions of the position of Sinai-Ḥoreb (as between Jebel Musa and Jebel Serbal and between the Sinaitic Peninsula as a whole and the E. coast of the Gulf of ‘Aḳabah or Mt Se‘îr or the neighbourhood of Ḳadesh) has already been exhaustively discussed in this series (Driver, Exod. pp. 18, 177–191). It is, therefore, unnecessary to say anything more here; except to recall that the question as between the Sinaitic Peninsula and some site farther N. appears to have been open in the time of the Crusades and of the Moslem geographers in the 14th century. Abu-l Fida c. 1321: ‘the position of Tur Sinâ is the subject of discussion. Some say it is the mountain near Ailah (at the head of the Gulf of ‘Aḳabah) and others that it is a mountain in Syria’ (quoted by G. le Strange, Palestine under the Moslems, 72 f.). The Chronicle d’Ernoui et Bernard le Trésorier says, ‘Cel Mons Synai est entre le Mer Rouge et leCrac (Kerak).’ See further ZDPV xxxvii. 190 ff.
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by the way of mount Seir] Se‘îr, the territory of Edom, lay W. as well as E. of the (Deu_1:44; cp. C. Trumbull K. B. 84 ff.; Buhl, Gesch. der Edomiter, 22 ff.); but Mt Se‘îr is in Dt (Deu_2:1) and elsewhere (e.g. Gen_14:6) the range E. of the ‘Arabah. Thus the way of Mt Se‘îr would be the most easterly of the roads from the Sinai Peninsula to Ḳadesh, which passes through the ‘Arabah. Further see Dillm.
Kadesh-barnea] This form is peculiar to D, deuteronomic passages and P; elsewhere Ḳadesh stands alone: and we have besides ‘En-Mishpaṭ, Well of Judgement (Gen_14:7), and Meribath-ḳadesh (see on Deu_33:2). The accepted site, visited first by Seetzen in 1807, then by Rowlands in 1842 (Williams, Holy City, i. 464 ff.), and described and argued for by Trumbull (Kad. Barn.), is the neighbourhood of the ‘Ain Ḳudeis (Seetzen’s and Rowlands’ spelling, confirmed by Musil) about 80 km. S.S.W. of Be’er-sheba‘, but the name must have covered the still more fertile ‘Ain Ḳadeyrât and the ‘A. Ḳaseymeh. Musil, who visited ‘Ain Ḳudeis thrice, doubts its identity with Ḳadesh (Edom i. 212), and suggests a site farther N.; yet he admits there the most fertile landscapes in all the region, describes the wâdies as either cultivated or full of relics of ancient cultivation, and even reports one more fertile than the plain about Gaza. See also PEFQ, 1914, 64 ff.; ZDPV, 1914, 7 ff. Barnea‘ has been explained as ‘son’ or ‘desert, of wandering.’ But it may belong to the number of non-Semitic names found in this region (e.g. Gharandel). To a hill S.E. of ‘Ain Ḳudeis, there is still attached the name Forni, which appears to be an echo of Barnea‘: the letter ‘ayin is sometimes dropped in mod. Arabic.
The whole fragment, 1b and 2, thus obviously out of place where it stands, may have been originally a note to Deu_1:19, which its details, so far as they are clear, suit.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (2) Eleven days’ journey from Horeb . . .—In…
(2) Eleven days’ journey from Horeb . . .—In our English Version this verse forms a separate sentence; but there seems nothing to prevent our taking it as completing the first verse. The route between Paran on the one side and the line from Tophel to Hazeroth on the other is still further defined as “a distance of eleven days’ journey from Horeb in the direction of Mount Seir, reaching to Kadesh-barnea.” The position of this last place is not yet determined with certainty. But the requirements of the text seem, upon the whole, to demand that it should be placed high up in the wilderness of Paran, not far from the border of the wilderness of Zin. It must be close to some passage out of the wilderness of Zin into the Negeb, or south of Judah.
Kadesh-barnea.—In the regular narrative of the exodus we read of the place to which the twelve spies returned as Kadesh (Num_13:26), and of the place at which the period of unrecorded wandering closed (Num_20:1), in the first month of the fortieth year, as Kadesh. The name Kadesh-barnea first appears in Moses’ speech (Num_32:8), where he refers to the sending of the twelve spies. And with the exception of three places where the name is used in describing boundaries, Kadesh -harnea is always found in speeches. This first chapter of Deuteronomy is the only one which contains the name both with and without the appendage -barnea, which connects it with the wanderings of Israel (Deu_1:32). Upon the whole, it seems most likely that only one place or district is intended by the name.
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We have now obtained the following view of this first short introduction to the Book of Deuteronomy. It consists of words spoken (in the first instance) to all Israel on their march from Sinai to Kadesh-barnea. But the following verses show that the Law was further “declared” to Israel in the plains of Moab, at the close of the fortieth year of the exodus and of Moses’ life. It does not seem possible for us to separate entirely what was spoken earlier from what was declared later. In several places we have the record of words spoken: for example, in this very chapter (Deu_1:9; Deu_1:16; Deu_1:18; Deu_1:20; Deu_1:29; Deu_1:43), and Deu_5:5, &c. And the very name Deuteronomy implies the repetition of a law previously given. Further, the exhortations contained in this book are all enforced by the immediate prospect of going over Jordan and entering the promised land. But when Israel marched from Sinai to Kadesh-barnea, it was with this very same prospect full in view. It does not appear, by what Moses “said” at that time (Deu_1:20), that he had any thought of their turning away from the enterprise. But if so, what supposition is more natural than this—that he delivered the same kind of exhortations in the course of that earlier journey which he afterwards delivered in the plains of Moab? And although the distance is but eleven days’ march, the Israelites spent something like three months on the way, and in waiting for the spies to return from Canaan.
We conclude, then, that the first two verses of Deuteronomy are an editorial introduction, stating that the substance of this book was first delivered to Israel by Moses between Sinai and Kadesh-barnea. The further introduction which follows (in Deu_1:3-5) shows the words to have been re-delivered in the plains of Moab, and preserved in their later rather than their earlier form. But it is also possible that the two first verses of Deuteronomy are an introduction to the first discourse above. (See Note on Deu_4:44.)
Is it possible to advance a step further, and conjecture with any degree of probability to what hand we owe the first two verses of the book? The expression “on the other side Jordan” (which some take to be a technical term) seems strictly to mean on the opposite side to the writer. The writer must also have been acquainted with the places mentioned (three of which are not named in the previous books); he could not have drawn his knowledge from the earlier part of the Pentateuch. And so entirely has the geography of Deu_1:1 been lost by tradition, that all the Targums and Jewish commentators agree in spiritualising the passage, and say, “these are the words of reproof which Moses.spake to all Israel in respect of their behaviour at these various places.” Laban points to their murmuring at the white manna. Dizahab to the golden calf, and so on. Even Rashi, usually a most literal commentator, says, “Moses has enumerated the places where they wrought provocation before the PLACE “—a Rabbinical name for Jehovah: for “the whole world is His place, though His place is more than the whole world.” This introduction to Deuteronomy seems the work of one who had known the wilderness, and yet wrote from Palestine. Joshua, the next writer to Moses, and possibly also his amanuensis, may have prefixed it to the book. If he did not, it is wholly impossible to say who did.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Horeb. The name generally given to Sinai in Deuteronomy…
Horeb. The name generally given to Sinai in Deuteronomy (see introduction, Sinai, however, occurs in Deu_33:2 of this book. By the way of mount Seir, i.e. by the way that leads to Mount Seir; just as in Deu_2:1, "the way of the Red sea" is the way that leads to that sea. (see also Num_14:25) Mount is here, as often elsewhere, for mountain range. The mountain range here referred to seems to have been, not that on the east of the "Arabah, but what is in vers. 6 and 19 called "the mountain of the Amorites," "the Seir by Hormah" of ver. 44, i e. the southern part of what was afterwards called the mountains of Judah. According to ver. 19, the Israelites, when they left Horeb, passed through the wilderness along the way that led to the mountains of the Amorites, and came to Kadesh-barnea. Kadesh must, therefore, be looked for, not on the eastern side of the "Arabah, but somewhere in the wilderness of Zin. It has been identified with the place now known as "Ain Kudes, near the northern extremity of Jebel Halal, and to the east of that hill; but this is far from being certain. Moses reminds the Israelites that the distance between Horeb and Kadesh is eleven daysi.e. , about one hundred and sixty-five miles, the day"s journey being reckoned at fifteen miles not to give them a piece of information, but rather to suggest to them how, in consequence of rebellion, a journey which might have been so easily accomplished, had been protracted through many wearisome years.
The might-have-beens of life.
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In its present setting this brief geographical note was, doubtless, meant to suggest the lesson of the evil results of disobedience. "Eleven days" journey," yet the fortieth year still saw them in the wilderness. We learn:
1. Sin turns short ways into long ones.
2. Sin entails on the transgressor needless trouble and sorrow.
3. Sin fills life with fruitless regrets.
4. Sin delays fulfillment of God"s promises.
The path of obedience is in the end the shortest, easiest, safest, and happiest. J.O.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain eleven days
eleven days
Prolonged by one act of unbelief to forty years. (See Scofield "Num 14:23").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 1:2 The distance from Mount Sinai in the southern…
1:2 The distance from Mount Sinai in the southern part of the Sinai Peninsula to Kadesh-barnea (see study note on 1:19) in the north is only 150 miles. Even the massive Hebrew population could easily have covered this distance in eleven days had they proceeded without detour or interruption. Their rebellion against the Lord resulted in a 38-year delay and a circuitous route (2:14; Num 14:34). • Mount Sinai: Hebrew Horeb, the name consistently used in Deuteronomy for the sacred mountain where the covenant was given. Its likely connection to a word meaning “drought” or “devastation” suggests the conditions the people of Israel had to face. • The way of Mount Seir was the route from Mount Sinai to Mount Seir. Seir, another name for Edom, was located east-southeast of the Dead Sea. The ordinary route took travelers through the Arabah north from the Gulf of Aqaba and then west to Kadesh-barnea, sixty miles southwest of the Dead Sea.
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