And the Horites in their Mount Seir are the people mentioned in Deut 2.12. They were the original inhabitants of this area. Seir is the name applied to the mountainous area south of the Dead Sea. It was later occupied by Esau, the ancestor of the Edomites (Gen 36.8-9). Good News Translation and others say “the mountains of Edom.”
As far as El-paran on the border of the wilderness: the element El in El-paran does not refer to God or a god, but is another word meaning “terebinth” or “oak tree.” The place is thought to be identified with Elat near the port of Aqaba at the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba. Most translations transliterate El-paran. The Septuagint calls it “the terebinth of Paran.”
Border of the wilderness is better expressed as in Good News Translation “edge of the desert.” In 21.21 Ishmael makes his home in the wilderness of Paran. If the reference to El-paran is to be identified with the Elat area near Aqaba, then the desert is the area to the north of this. It is not at all certain, however, that the “wilderness of Paran” extended so far south of the Dead Sea.
Wilderness or desert translates Hebrew midbar, the most common of several Hebrew terms referring to the dry, barren wastelands of the Middle East. These vast areas, mostly uninhabited, are not entirely without rain, particularly in March and April. Although barren for the most part, a heavy rain can cause the sparse vegetation to blossom (Isa 35.2). In early times there was sufficient vegetation to support some wild life (Job 24.5). The surface of the ground in such areas is covered with sand or small stones.
Wilderness or “desert” is sometimes translated by descriptive phrases meaning “bare place” or “place of sand.” However, these can mean no more than a jungle clearing or a sandy beach to people who live in tropical forests. Unlike the New Testament usage, where the focus is on a remote uninhabited area, here the physical geography of the desert area is important. In languages in which a descriptive phrase is unsuitable, it is sometimes possible to borrow a word from another language and to use a classifier; for example, “a vast barren land called desert.” In some areas it is necessary to provide a footnote giving a more detailed description of a desert.
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .