An enclosure; a wall, a part, probably, of the Arabian desert, on the north-eastern border of Egypt, giving its name to a wilderness extending from Egypt toward Philistia ([Gen. 16:7](/gen#Gen.16.7); [20:1](/gen#Gen.20.1); [25:18](/gen#Gen.25.18); [Ex. 15:22](/exod#Exod.15.22)). The name was probably given to it from the wall (or shur) which the Egyptians built to defend their frontier on the north-east from the desert tribes. This wall or line of fortifications extended from Pelusium to Heliopolis.