Shur (, sometimes rendered in translations as Sur) is a location mentioned several times in the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach" . '' Wadi Tumilat — an arable strip of land to the east of the
Nile Delta
The Nile Delta (, or simply , ) is the River delta, delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's larger deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the eas ...
, serving as the ancient transit route between
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...
Sinai Peninsula
The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai ( ; ; ; ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a land bridge between Asia and Afri ...
.
When Hagar ran away from Sarai ( Abram's wife, her owner), "the Angel of the Lord found her ... by the well in the way to Shur" (
Book of Genesis
The Book of Genesis (from Greek language, Greek ; ; ) is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its incipit, first word, (In the beginning (phrase), 'In the beginning'). Genesis purpor ...
, , KJV).
Shur is also mentioned in 1 Samuel 15:7 — "Then
Saul
Saul (; , ; , ; ) was a monarch of ancient Israel and Judah and, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament, the first king of the United Monarchy, a polity of uncertain historicity. His reign, traditionally placed in the late eleventh c ...
slaughtered the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, east of Egypt."Bible, New Living Translation According to the
Book of Exodus
The Book of Exodus (from ; ''Šəmōṯ'', 'Names'; ) is the second book of the Bible. It is the first part of the narrative of the Exodus, the origin myth of the Israelites, in which they leave slavery in Biblical Egypt through the strength of ...
(), Marah is located in the "wilderness of Shur".
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1893) says that Shur is "a part, probably, of the Arabian desert, on the north-eastern border of Egypt, giving its name to a
wilderness
Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plurale tantum, plural) are Earth, Earth's natural environments that have not been significantly modified by human impact on the environment, human activity, or any urbanization, nonurbanized land not u ...
extending from Egypt toward Philistia (''Gen''. 16:7; 20:1; 25:18; ''Ex''. 15:22). The name was probably given to it from the wall which the
Egyptians
Egyptians (, ; , ; ) are an ethnic group native to the Nile, Nile Valley in Egypt. Egyptian identity is closely tied to Geography of Egypt, geography. The population is concentrated in the Nile Valley, a small strip of cultivable land stretchi ...
built to defend their frontier on the north-east from the desert tribes. This wall or line of
fortification
A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...