Numbers 20:21

 Numbers 20:21

Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border: wherefore Israel turned away from him.

a. NLT: Because Edom refused to allow Israel to pass through their country, Israel was forced to turn around.   [Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.]

b. ASV: Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border: wherefore Israel turned away from him. [Thomas Nelson & Sons first published the American Standard Version in 1901. This translation of the Bible is in the public domain.]

c. YLT: And Edom refuseth to suffer Israel to pass over through his border, and Israel turneth aside from off him.  [The Young's Literal Translation was translated by Robert Young, who believed in a strictly literal translation of God's word. This version of the Bible is in the public domain.]

d. Classic Amplified: Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory, so Israel turned away from him.  [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

e. Stone Edition THE CHUMASH, Rabbinic Commentary: So Edom refused to permit Israel to pass through his border, and Israel turned wavy from near him.  [The Artscroll Series/Stone Edition, THE CHUMASH Copyright 1998, 2000 by MESORAH PUBLICATIONS, Ldt.]

f. The Israel Bible: So Edom would not let Yisrael cross their territory, and Yisrael turned away from them.  [The English Translation was adapted by Israel 365 from the JPS Tanakh. Copyright Ⓒ 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society. All rights reserved.]

g. NIV: Since Edom refused to let them go through their territory, Israel turned away from them. [THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.]

1. “Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border:...”

a. [Thus] Edom [Strong: 123 'Edom ed-ome' or (fully) hoEdown {ed-ome'}; from 122; red (see Gen. 25:25); Edom, the elder twin-brother of Jacob; hence the region (Idumaea) occupied by him:--Edom, Edomites, Idumea.]

b. refused [Strong: 3985 ma'en maw-ane' a primitive root; to refuse:--refuse, X utterly.]

c. [to] give [Strong: 5414 nathan naw-than' a primitive root; to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etc.):--add, apply, appoint, ascribe, assign, X avenge, X be ((healed)), bestow, bring (forth, hither), cast, cause, charge, come, commit, consider, count, + cry, deliver (up), direct, distribute, do, X doubtless, X without fail, fasten, frame, X get, give (forth, over, up), grant, hang (up), X have, X indeed, lay (unto charge, up), (give) leave, lend, let (out), + lie, lift up, make, + O that, occupy, offer, ordain, pay, perform, place, pour, print, X pull , put (forth), recompense, render, requite, restore, send (out), set (forth), shew, shoot forth (up), + sing, + slander, strike, (sub-)mit, suffer, X surely, X take, thrust, trade, turn, utter, + weep, + willingly, + withdraw, + would (to) God, yield.]

d. Israel [Strong: 3478 Yisra'el yis-raw-ale' from 8280 and 410; he will rule as God; Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity: --Israel.]

e. passage [Strong: 5674 `abar aw-bar' a primitive root; to cross over; used very widely of any transition (literal or figurative; transitive, intransitive, intensive, causative); specifically, to cover (in copulation):--alienate, alter, X at all, beyond, bring (over, through), carry over, (over-)come (on, over), conduct (over), convey over, current, deliver, do away, enter, escape, fail, gender, get over, (make) go (away, beyond, by, forth, his way, in, on, over, through), have away (more), lay, meddle, overrun, make partition, (cause to, give, make to, over) pass(-age, along, away, beyond, by, -enger, on, out, over, through), (cause to, make) + proclaim(-amation), perish, provoke to anger, put away, rage, + raiser of taxes, remove, send over, set apart, + shave, cause to (make) sound, X speedily, X sweet smelling, take (away), (make to) transgress(-or), translate, turn away, (way-)faring man, be wrath.]

f. [through his] border [Strong: 1366 gbuwl gheb-ool' or (shortened) gbul {gheb-ool'}; from 1379; properly, a cord (as twisted), i.e. (by implication) a boundary; by extens. the territory inclosed:--border, bound, coast, X great, landmark, limit, quarter, space.]

2. “...wherefore Israel turned away from him.”

a. [wherefore] Israel  [Strong: 3478 Yisra'el yis-raw-ale' from 8280 and 410; he will rule as God; Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity: --Israel.]

b. turned away [Strong: 5186 natah naw-taw' a primitive root; to stretch or spread out; by implication, to bend away (including moral deflection); used in a great variety of application (as follows):--+ afternoon, apply, bow (down, - ing), carry aside, decline, deliver, extend, go down, be gone, incline, intend, lay, let down, offer, outstretched, overthrown, pervert, pitch, prolong, put away, shew, spread (out), stretch (forth, out), take (aside), turn (aside, away), wrest, cause to yield.]

c. [from him] [Strong: 5921 `al al properly, the same as 5920 used as a preposition (in the singular or plural often with prefix, or as conjunction with a particle following); above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications (as follow):--above, according to(-ly), after, (as) against, among, and, X as, at, because of, beside (the rest of), between, beyond the time, X both and, by (reason of), X had the charge of, concerning for, in (that), (forth, out) of, (from) (off), (up-)on, over, than, through(-out), to, touching, X with.]

1). The reality was that nations at this time had literal national borders that were strictly enforced.