Albert Barnes Commentary Numbers 14:45

"Then the Amalekite came down, and the Canaanite who dwelt in that mountain, and smote them and beat them down, even unto Hormah." — Numbers 14:45 (ASV)

To Hormah — literally, "the Hormah": that is, "the banning," or "the place of the ban." Compare Numbers 21:3; Joshua 12:14. According to the view taken of Kadesh , Hormah is identified, through its earlier name Zephath (Judges 1:17), with es-Safah on the southeastern frontier of Canaan. This location served as the point from which the Israelites left the Arabah for the higher ground. An alternative identification for Hormah is Sebaita, which lies further to the west, about 25 miles north of Ain Gadis.