SIN. - Name of three biblical localities.
1. Desert (Heb. Sin) crossed by the Israelites on their itinerary from Elim and the Red Sea to Raphidim (v.) and to Sinai (Ex. 16:1; 17:1; Num. 33:11).
It probably corresponds to the sandy plain of Debbet er-Ramleh, which extends, in the interior of the Sinai peninsula, at the foot of Gebel et-Tib. The identification with the plain of el-Markhah on the western coast or with the desert of el-Qā'ah along the southern coast of the Sinai peninsula, suggested by ancient and also modern pilgrims, does not seem to satisfy the topographical requirements of the text, which supposes S. between Elim (= Wādi Garandel) and Sinai.
2. City, fortress of Egypt, mentioned only by Ez. 30:15-16; located in the Delta, but of uncertain identification. The Septuagint transcribed in v. 15 as Σάς, a city northwest of Bubastis, but which was never an important stronghold. In v. 16 they identified it with Σάγη, having perhaps read Sin, an abbreviation of Sēwēh, that is Syene, on the borders of Ethiopia, today Aswan at the first cataract, and which could therefore be called a fortress of Egypt. The Vulgate transcribed Pelusium, a fortified port at the eastern extremity of the Delta, whose capture was necessary for invaders coming from the northeastern desert.
3. Desert (Heb. Sin) that marked the southern frontier of Canaan, crossed by the spies in the Promised Land (Num. 13:21). Kadesh-Barnea was included within the borders at the southwestern edge of the desert (ibid. 20:1; 27:14; 33:36; Deut. 32:51), it bounded Edom to the west and the tribe of Judah to the southeast (Jos. 15:1-3). The name seems to have been preserved in the southern region of Palestine, in the Wādi eş-Sinī and in the Ard eş-Sinī.