Shur was a desert region in the north of the Sinai Peninsular. It was bounded by Egypt on the west (the border being along the line of the present-day Suez Canal), and the Negeb on the east (the border being along the Brook of Egypt) (Gen 20:1; Exod 15:22; 1 Sam 15:7; 27:8). The main inland route from Egypt to Jerusalem passed through the Wilderness of Shur and the Judean towns of Beersheba and Hebron (Gen 13:1,18; 16:7; 21:14; 46:5). (For further details see PALESTINE, subheading ‘Negeb’.)