‘ And it went out southward of the ascent of Akrabbim, and passed along to Zin, and went up by the south of Kadesh-barnea, and passed along by Hezron, and went up to Addar and turned about to Karka, and it passed along to Azmon and went out at the torrent-wadi of Egypt. And the goings out of the border were at the Sea. This shall be your south border.'
For these verses compare Numbers 34:4-5. ‘The Ascent of Akkrabim' is ‘the Scorpion's Pass', a mountain pass at the southern end of the Dead Sea (Numbers 34:4; Judges 1:36), between the Arabah (Jordan Rift valley) and the hill country of Judah. It is identified with Naqb es-safa. The border then passed along the south of Kadesh-barnea (south of the Wilderness of Zin), and by Hezron, Addar and Karka which are unknown (but compare Hazar-addar in Numbers 34:4). Possibly they were well known oases.
It then went along to Azmon and to ‘the torrent-wadi of Egypt', Wadi el-‘Arish (Joshua 15:47; Num 34:5; 1 Kings 8:65; Isaiah 27:12), often called the ‘River of Egypt', until it reached the Great Sea. This long and deep valley, dry except after heavy rain, rises in the middle of the desert of et-Tih in the north of the Sinaitic peninsula and joins the Mediterranean some eighty kilometres (fifty miles) south of Gaza, at el-‘Arish. It has nothing to do with the Nile.
“This shall be your south border.” The change to direct speech may be partly due to the fact that it was taken from Numbers 34:3; Numbers 34:6 where it is in an address by Moses, but it also reminds us that these are directions being given to Judah.