Septuagint: Exodus

Most of the confusion about where the mountain is is derived from the various interpretations of the route the Israelites took out of Egypt, as well as who the Israelites were while they were in Egypt. Some of this confusion was clearly caused by the translation of the Septuagint at the Library of Alexandria circa 250 BC. The Greek translators used the term Erythrean Sea to translate the Hebrew term Suf Yam which simply translates as 'Reed Sea' or 'Papyrus Sea.' The Greek term Erythrean Sea was an adopted Persian term that referred to the Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, Gulf of Aden, and the Red Sea. No doubt the Greek translators were covering their bases, as they had no idea where the events of the Suf Yam had taken place. This mistranslation has unfortunately been carried into virtually all Christian translations of the Hebrew Scriptures as 'Red Sea,' including those made from the Masoretic Texts which do not mention the Red Sea. Ironically, this has even been re-imported to Hebrew, where the name for the Red Sea is now Suf Yam, making the ancient Greek mistranslation look correct. Nevertheless, ancient Egyptian records that have been translated in the past couple of centuries clarify the location of the event, and it is not in the Red Sea, which almost all translations of the Bibles and Targums report.