John Gill Commentary Deuteronomy 1:19

"And we journeyed from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which ye saw, by the way to the hill-country of the Amorites, as Jehovah our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea." — Deuteronomy 1:19 (ASV)

And when we departed from Horeb
As the Lord commanded them to do, when they were obedient:

we went through all the great and terrible wilderness ;
the wilderness of Paran, called "great", it reaching from Mount Sinai to Kadeshbarnea, eleven days' journey, as Adrichomius ^F12 relates; and "terrible", being so hard and dry as not to be ploughed nor sown, and presented to the sight something terrible and horrible, even the very image of death; to which may be added the fiery serpents and scorpions it abounded with, (Deuteronomy 8:15) ,

which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites ;
that is, in the way that led to the mountain:

as the Lord our God commanded us ;
to depart from Horeb, and take a tour through the wilderness towards the said mountain:

and we came to Kadeshbarnea ;
having stayed a month by the way at Kibrothhattaavah, where they lusted after flesh, and seven days at Hazeroth, where Miriam was shut out of the camp for leprosy during that time.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F12: Theatrum Terrae, p. 116.