[2] It has been widely identified with the archaeological site of es-Sela' or as-Sila' in Jordan's Tafilah Governorate.

[3] When Amaziah took Sela he called it Joktheel (also spelled Jokteel (JPS) and Jectehel (DRB)) (q.v.)

[3] Archaeologists have found on a rock face at es-Sila' the so-called "Nabonidus Inscription", named after the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire (ruled c. 556–539 BCE).

[4][5] Sela appears in later history and in the Vulgate under the name of 'Petra', the Greek translation of the Semitic word 'Sela', meaning 'rock'.

[6] This led to Sela being confused with the Nabataean city of Rekem,[7] known to the Hellenistic world as Petra.