Biblical Hebrew Forum

[yochanan bitan <ButhFam AT compuserve.com>]

Lee Martin wrote:
<"The Horites also lived in Seir formerly, but the sons of Esau would
dispossess them.  [deleted grammatical comment--rb]  So they destroyed them
from before them, and they settled in their stead.">

That represents the MT. (The grammatical comment "yiqtol, showing intent or
desire" was irrelevant.)

From the Samaritan text and parallel texts like 2.20-21 it is probable that
a textual corruption has entered the MT. 
But the MT makes sense as it stands:

The sons of Esau used to dispossess them and they completely purged them
and they lived in the land in place of them. 

blessings
Randall Buth