Valleys of Israel

The Land of Israel’s quasi-N-shaped network of lowlands—comprising the Coastal Plain, the Jezreel Valley, and the Jordan Rift Valley (which includes the Hulah Valley, the Jordan Valley, and the Aravah Valley)—breaks up what is otherwise a landscape of hills and heights that constitute the country’s central spine or mountainous backbone.

The principal branches of the lowland network contain specific sections that for various reasons—geographical, geological, topographical, or historical—developed something of their own identity (e.g., the Sharon Plain within the Coastal Plain; the Valley of Yehoshaphat within the Kidron Valley; the Valley of Salt within the Aravah Valley, etc.).

Of the three major trade routes—Derekh HaYam (The Way of the Sea/The Coastal Highway), Derekh HaAvot (The Way of the Patriarchs/The Ridge Route/The Watershed Route), and Derekh HaMelekh (The King’s Highway/The Road to Bashan)—that traversed the Land of Israel, Derekh HaYam ran mostly through valleys, particularly the Coastal Plain, the Jezreel Valley, and the Hulah Valley.

Valleys were crucial for travel and transportation routes not only within the Land of Israel by Israelites and other residents, but for overland travelers, pilgrims, merchants, and armies arriving from Phoenicia, Philistia, Egypt, Aram, Keidar, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Greece, Rome, Nabatea, and elsewhere. Flat terrain and the proximity to streams or even lakes made valleys the natural preference for wayfarers wary of the arduous rigors associated with mountain trekking.

Israel’s valleys were often named after the major settlement in the vicinity and often served as borders between distinct tribal territories. Here is a précis offering a glimpse at the most geographically and historically significant valleys in Israel.

1. Qasmiyeh – A river valley that features the Qasmiyeh River, i.e., the lower course of the Litani (Leontes) River, which flows westward in sinuous fashion until it discharges north of Tzur (Tyre) into the Mediterranean Sea. The Qasmiyeh Valley traversed the tribal territories of Asher and Naphtali, as well as southern Phoenicia, and within the minimal set of borders it lay near the northern border of the Land of Israel. The narrow valley is verdant and tortuous, a green ribbon winding through beige hills until widening into the open plain wherein lies the coastal village of Qasmiyeh in modern Lebanon.
2. Hulah (Hulata) – A swampy plain comprising the banks of the Upper Jordan River between the northern enclave of Dan and the Khorazim Plateau (Ramat Khorazim/the Khorazim Sill). Its northern section is additionally known as the Beit Rehov Valley. Hulah divides the Naphtali Mountains of Upper Galilee to the west from the Golan (western Bashan) to the east, and features papyri, reeds, water lilies, water buffaloes, and wild boars, as well as a plethora of migratory birds annually flying to and from Africa. In the 1950s much of the water was drained, but Lake Hulah—known in the Talmud as the Sea of Samkho and in the writings of the priestly historian Joseph ben Matityahu (Flavius Josephus) as Lake Semechonitis—endures today in the paradisal wetlands of Lakelet Hulah and the Hulah Nature Reserve, where the local flora and fauna flourish. Much of the reclaimed land is used for farming (grains, fodder, apples, nuts, cotton, vegetables, and bulbs), as well as for the urban development of Kiryat Shmonah.
3. Ramah (Beit HaKherem) – The boundary valley dividing Upper Galilee and Lower Galilee, known biblically as the Plain of Ramah and in the modern era as the Beit HaKherem Valley (and in Arabic as the ash-Shaghur Valley, whose Hebrew version is the Shagor Valley). The Ramah extends for approximately 10 miles lengthwise (east-west)—bridging Akko and Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee)—and two miles breadthwise (north-south)—from Mitlol Tzurim (“Escarpment of Cliffs”), a steep scarp caused by a geological fault line, to the Shagor range. The valley is very fertile and features ancient olive groves. An interregional road (running east-west) traversed the valley (modern Highway 85) and part of the interregional road connecting Akko and Hatzor traversed the heights above the western half of the plain. The priestly historian Joseph ben Matityahu (Flavius Josephus) specified Be’ersheva of the Galilee (Bersabe) as the boundary dividing Galilee, and later the Mishnah specified Kfar Hananiah as the same; both of these neighboring border towns (Kfar Hananiah is immediately southeast of Be’ersheva of the Galilee, which rests atop a steep hill between Nahal Sheva and the upper course of Nahal Tzalmon) lie in the eastern half of the Ramah, as do the tombs of several sages, including that of the eponymous tanna Hananiah ben Akashia, buried in a cave (with his wife and 23 disciples) at the foot of his namesake village. Sited in the center of the valley are the ancient village of Ramah (Rameh); the ancient village of Shezor (Sajur), wherein are situated the traditional tombs of the prominent tanna Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha HaKohen and the tannaim Shimon Shezuri and Shimon ben Elazar; the moshav Shezor; and the city of Karmiel. The Shagor range separates the Plain of Ramah from the Sikhnin Valley.
4. Sikhnin (Sakhnin) – A small valley shaped like an arrowhead, whose tip is a low hill whereon rests the ancient town of Sikhnin, hometown of the tanna Hananiah ben Teradyon, who also headed the local academy (the Kfar Sikhanya mentioned in the Tosefta might be identical to Sikhnin). The valley’s fertile fields are watered by several streams, including Nahal Sakhnin, Nahal Hilazon, Nahal Morsan, Nahal Hanina, and Nahal Hanna. Today the valley is inhabited by a sizable Arab population dwelling in villages and towns that retain their names from the Roman era (63 BCE–313 CE). The Yodefat range separates the Sikhnin Valley from the Beit Netofah Valley.
5. Yiftah-el (Iphtahel) – Shared by the tribal territories of Asher and Zvulun, the Yiftah-el Valley formed Zvulun’s northwestern border. Yiftah-el has been etymologically and geographically associated with the fortress of Yodefat (Jotapata)—a noted locus in Lower Galilee where the Galilean governor Joseph ben Matityahu (Flavius Josephus) was besieged by the Romans under Vespasian during the Great Revolt (66–73 CE)—and has been identified with Nahal Tzipori/Wadi al-Malik (southwest of the Beit Netofah Valley), which connects the Beit Netofah Valley to the northern Coastal Plain (the Plain of Asher/the Plain of Akko). However, a plausible alternative identification, just to the north, is that of Nahal Evlayim/Wadi Abellin (northwest of the Beit Netofah Valley), which extends from Yodefat to Akko, thereby linking the Yodefat range and the northern Coastal Plain.
6. Beit Netofah (Asochis) – A plain in the tribal territory of Zvulun, situated between the Yodefat range and the Tur’an range in the center of Lower Galilee. It was known for its vetch plant and its high-quality clay. Beit Netofah is mentioned in the Mishnah and the priestly historian Joseph ben Matityahu (Flavius Josephus) refers to it in his Life as the Valley of Asochis (Asochis is the Greek version of the Hebrew name Shihin); the ruined village of Shihin—and its namesake plain, now known as the Beit Netofah—lie next to Tzipori (Sepphoris/Diocaesarea), and are not to be confused with Sikhnin or the Sikhnin Valley, which lie north of the Yodefat range. After heavy rains in winter, its fields become waterlogged, such that the plain transforms into a seasonal lake. Today the National Water Carrier’s Eshkol Reservoir is situated in the southwestern corner of the valley. In Arabic the Beit Netofah is known as Sahal al-Battuf/el-Buttauf. The Tur’an range separates the Beit Netofah Valley from the Tur’an Valley.
7. Tur’an (Tir’an) – The smaller, southern extension of the Beit Netofah Valley. The Tur’an Valley derives its name from the eponymous ancient village of Tir’an (originally a Jewish village but today the Arab village of Tur’an) situated at the southern foot of the Tur’an range. Around the time of the division of the United Monarchy (931 BCE), Tir’an was a walled village of considerable size. Tzipori (Sepphoris/Diocaesarea), a city perched like a bird atop a mountain, lies near the junction of the Tur’an Valley and the Beit Netofah Valley. The Nazareth range separates the Tur’an Valley from the Khsulot Valley.
8. Khsulot (Khislot Tavor) – Situated in the tribal territory of Issachar between Mount Tavor and Givat HaMoreh (Moreh Hill), the narrow valley takes its name from the eponymous village Khsulot, which was later referred to by the priestly historian Joseph ben Matityahu (Flavius Josephus) as Xaloth and whose name is partially preserved in the Arabic toponym Iksal, a modern village east of Mount Precipice and southeast of Nazareth. During the era of the Judges (c. 1228–1020 BCE), the Khsulot Valley figured prominently in the battle won by the Israelite Judge and prophetess Dvorah and her general Barak against the Canaanite ruler King Yavin of Hatzor and his general Sisera at Mount Tavor, and in the Israelite Judge Gidon’s military campaign against the Midianites, who situated their base camp within the valley. The Givat HaMoreh range separates the Khsulot Valley from the Harrod Valley and the Beit She’an Valley (the eastern extensions of the Jezreel Valley).
9. Jezreel – The third largest valley in Israel, which essentially bridges the largest two, and which served as a central hub for interregional roads and international trade routes. Jezreel (“God shall seed”) reaches from the Kharmel mountain range to Mount Tavor and the Gilboa mountain range and contains the Megiddo Valley, with the Harrod Valley and the Beit She’an Valley as its eastern extensions toward the Jordan River Valley (the Jezreel is shaped like an arrowhead or a spade, with the Harrod Valley as its shaft or short stem). Dividing the tribal territories of western Menasheh (northern Samaria) to the south from Asher, Zvulun, Issachar, and Naphtali (Galilee) to the north, the curving valley runs northwest-southeast and comprises the Kishon River’s alluvial plain. The valley’s gates included: in the southwest, the Yokne’am pass and the Iron-Megiddo pass across the Kharmel mountain range; in the west, the Kishon pass to the northern Coastal Plain (the Plain of Asher/the Plain of Akko); in the north, the Shimron pass across the Nazareth range; in the northeast, the Tavor pass, incorporated by the central extent of the ancient Derekh HaYam (The Way of the Sea/The Coastal Highway) international trade route connecting Egypt and Syria; in the east, the Harrod Valley and the Beit She’an Valley, through which ran the interregional road The Menasheh Connection (running east-west); and in the south, the interregional road The Way to Beit HaGan and its southern extension Ma’aleih Gur, linking the valley and the central hill country via Ein Gannim (Beit HaGan/Ginat/Jenin), Yivli’am/Bil’am, and Dotan. The area was once dominated by Canaanites, whose iron chariots presented a formidable challenge to the tribe of Menasheh. After the successful battle won by the Israelite Judge and prophetess Dvorah and her general Barak against the Canaanite ruler King Yavin of Hatzor and his general Sisera at Mount Tavor, the Israelites controlled the plain’s peaks. Encamped at Ein Harrod (Ma’ayan Harrod), the Israelite Judge Gidon later defended the valley against the encroaching Midianites. During the United Monarchy of Israel (1030–931 BCE), the Philistines sought to divide King Saul’s realm by advancing through the valley and establishing forward bases at Shunem and at Beit She’an. Saul and the Israelite army encamped by the spring in the valley just prior to their disastrous defeat in the fateful Battle of Mount Gilboa (1010 BCE). Still, the Jezreel Valley remained under Israelite control and formed part of King Ish-Boshet’s northern kingdom while in the south King David ruled from Hebron in Judah. David soon swept away the Philistine outposts. David’s third wife, Ahino’am, was from Jezreel. King Ahab of Israel built defensive walls and watchtowers to fortify the strategic town of Jezreel, his military headquarters, and the fruitful valley also featured Navot’s vineyard, seized unjustly by a covetous Ahab. Here a convalescing King Yehoram of Israel, last scion of the Omride dynasty, was slain by the ruthless army commander Yehu ben Yehoshaphat ben Nimshi, who then had the queen mother Jezebel defenestrated and devoured by rabid dogs. The severed heads of Ahab’s 70 sons were sent from Samaria to Jezreel and piled by its gate overnight, and the entire Omride household was promptly extirpated. Thereafter Jezreel lost its splendor and might have even been sacked by invading Arameans. During the fateful Battle of Megiddo (609 BCE), King Josiah of Judah was felled while trying to prevent Pharaoh Neco II of Egypt from traversing the valley to assist Assyria against the Babylonians and the Medes. The valley was in time controlled by the Hasmonean and the Herodian dynasties, which administered its villages and farmlands. Roman legions later occupied and settled in the area, as did crusaders later still. In 1165 CE, the Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela visited the valley, stopped in the town of Jezreel, and encountered a Jewish dyer who resided there. Thereafter the district gradually deteriorated into malarial marshes. In 1799, General Napoleon Bonaparte of France fought the Ottoman Turks at Afula. In 1918, British general Edmund Allenby was bolstered by Australian cavalrymen rapidly crossing the valley during the military campaign against the Turks. The plain was drained and resettled in the 1920s. Jezreel is known as Esdraelon in Greek.
10. Beit She’an (Beisan) – A valley joining the Jordan River Valley with the Harrod Valley and the Jezreel Valley. Its land is highly fertile and features numerous springs. Ancient Egyptians controlled the city of Beit She’an and the caravan route that traversed the valley, which was initially allotted to the tribal territory of Issachar but which was soon taken over by western Menasheh. The Philistines encroached inland from the southern Coastal Plain and controlled the area during the reign of King Saul (1030–1010 BCE), who died nearby in the fateful Battle of Mount Gilboa (1010 BCE) waged against the coastal invaders, who hung Saul’s corpse from the walls of the city of Beit She’an. Later the area was governed by King Solomon’s officer Ba’ana ben Ahilud. During the Hellenistic era (332–167 BCE), Emperor Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt stationed Scythian mercenaries in the region, thereby engendering an additional name for the city of Beit She’an—Scythopolis. The Hasmonean ruler and high priest Jonathan Maccabee encountered the Seleucid pretender Diodotus Tryphon at Beit She’an, which the Hasmoneans conquered and refortified. During the Roman era (63 BCE–313 CE), Jews manufactured linen apparel, farmed field crops, and harvested olive plantations in the area. The Talmudic sage Shimon ben Lakish (Reish Lakish) said: “If paradise is situated in the Land of Israel, then Beit She’an is the portal…” (BT Eiruvin 19a). The valley supported vineyards, rice fields, and palm trees in the early Muslim era (638–1099 CE) but was devastated by crusaders during their numerous military campaigns. In the 1300s, the sage, physician, and explorer (Estori) Isaac HaParhi moved to Beit She’an from Jerusalem and used it as a base wherefrom he conducted geographical and historical research that eventuated in his masterwork Kaftor VaFerah. In the modern era, the Haifa-Damascus railroad line ran through the valley, and the area was settled by Bedouin Arabs from Egypt. Arab marauders used Beit She’an to launch attacks against Jewish residents of the Harrod Valley until Jewish tower-and-stockade settlements were established in the vicinity. The area today features several kibbutzim and the Israel Railways line from Beit She’an to Afula and beyond.
11. Dotan – A triangular valley at the head of which lies the eponymous town, in the tribal territory of western Menasheh (northern Samaria), northwest of Shekhem and southwest of Ein Gannim (Beit HaGan/Ginat/Jenin), where Joseph’s brothers sold him to Ishmaelites traveling from Gilad to Egypt. Later, the prophet Elisha was a resident of Dotan, where he was besieged by Aramean forces that were, according to the biblical account, miraculously blinded and outmatched by fiery horses and chariots defending Elisha.
12. Tirtzah – A deep canyon carving into the central hill country of Samaria from the Jordan Valley. Through the Tirtzah Valley ran the Trans-Samaria Highway, a major interregional road (running east-west) whose eastern extent, Derekh M’voh HaShemesh (The Sunset Road), connected the city of Tirtzah—Tel el-Far’a (North)—to Adam in the southern Jordan Valley. The Tirtzah Stream (Nahal Tirtzah) also courses through the valley and discharges into the Jordan River. Following the division (931 BCE) of the United Monarchy of Israel (1030–931 BCE), the city of Tirtzah became the third and final capital of King Jeroboam I of Israel; his royal successors continued to reign therefrom until King Omri of Israel, after his sixth regnal year, transferred his capital to the newly built city of Samaria (sited along the western half of the Trans-Samaria Highway). In Arabic the Tirtzah Valley and Nahal Tirtzah are known as Wadi al Far’a.
13. Akhor – In this valley near Jericho, Akhan ben Kharmi, who had absconded with forbidden spoils of war, was lapidated. For Akhan’s troubling of Israel, the valley was named Akhor (“troubler”). The prophet Hosea envisioned that Akhor would become “a gateway to hope” (2:17) and the prophet Isaiah foretold that it would become an idyllic place for cattle to rest “for my people who have sought me” (65:10). One of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Copper Scroll, mentions the Akhor Valley as a ruin where a silver chest with vessels was buried.
14. Coastal Plain – The low-lying littoral curving along the edge of the Mediterranean Sea, the Coastal Plain is the widest and one of the longest valleys in Israel, beginning at the bottom of the Ladder of Tyre and extending as a widening band from Haifa and the headland of the Kharmel mountain range in the north to Rhinokorura (El-Arish) and beyond in the south. Beaches line the western edge of the Coastal Plain, and sand dunes are especially abundant from Jaffa to Gaza. The central Coastal Plain (the Sharon Plain)—from Nahal Sorek/Nahr Rubin (south of Jaffa) in the south to the Zikhron Ya’akov spur of the Kharmel mountain range in the north, or from the Yarkon River in the south (north of Jaffa) to Tanninim Stream in the north—was renowned in ancient times for its red and white lilies, anemones, oak forests, pastures, and marshes. The Sharon was part of the tribal territories of western Menasheh and Ephraim, and during the United Monarchy of Israel (1030–931 BCE) Shitrai the Sharonite was appointed to supervise King David’s herds that pastured in the Sharon. The female persona in Song of Songs famously states, “I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys” (2:1). The area was later conquered by the Assyrians, who established the coastal town of Dor (Dora) as the capital of their province Du’ru. The prophet Isaiah lamented that “Sharon is like a desert” (33:9) but prophesied that “Sharon will become a pasture for flocks” (65:10). Later the Persians granted the Sharon Plain to the Tzidonians (Sidonians). In ancient and classical times, important cities including Akhziv, Akko, Caesarea, Jaffa, Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Gaza were built along the shoreline of the Coastal Plain, and in the modern era these centers were joined by Nahariyah, Haddeirah, Netanyah, Herzliyah, and Tel Aviv. Jewish settlers drained the malarial swamps of the Coastal Plain in the 1930s and developed the densely populated landscape. Citrus groves were particularly plentiful around Haddeirah and Jaffa. Today the coastline is a magnet for lovers of sand, sea, and surf.
15. Ben Hinnom (Hinnom) – A curving valley to the southwest and south of the Old City of Jerusalem, on the original Benjamin-Judah border, formerly infamous for its idolatrous Molekh worship. Named after a certain Hinnom’s son, the Ben Hinnom Valley became a notorious site of child sacrifice where the abominable Tophet altar was erected, and for this reason the prophet Jeremiah envisioned that the area would be renamed the Valley of Slaughter, where corpses would be heaped in a gruesome congeries and devoured by predatory birds and wild beasts. As an open morgue and a place of punishment, the valley—whose Hebrew name Gai Ben Hinnom was over time contracted to Gehinnom or Gehenna—became synonymous with perdition. Perhaps during the Roman era (63 BCE–313 CE), a dam with an overlaid road was erected across the valley between (the erroneously named) Mount Zion just outside the Old City and the neighborhood opposite, known today as Mishkenot Sha’ananim. In the early modern era, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire built a fountain atop the dam, the Sultan’s Pool, extant today. Nowadays the Ben Hinnom Valley is a lovely site where music concerts are held in an amphitheater setting, where horses roam and graze, and where a music center for Jewish and Arab youth is situated.
16. Kidron (Yehoshaphat) – A valley originating northeast of Jerusalem, then dividing Temple Mount to the west from the Mount of Olives to the east, and finally continuing southeast toward the Salt Sea (Dead Sea). King David crossed the valley in flight from his rebellious son Avshalom. King Solomon set the Kidron as the boundary beyond which the execrating Benjaminite, Shimei ben Geira, could not venture without forfeiting his life. King Asa of Judah later burned his grandmother Ma’akhah’s idolatrous Asherah image in the Kidron. King Josiah of Judah similarly burned in the valley the Ba’al and Asherah idols that had been introduced in the Temple. The Jewish reformer Jesus of Nazareth often ventured into the Kidron with his disciples to linger in the Garden of Gat-Shemanim (Gethsemane). The central section of the Kidron between Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives is additionally known as the Valley of Yehoshaphat, which is otherwise considered an imprecise (if not metaphorical) locus. The prophet Joel foresaw that, following the Judahite return from the Babylonian Captivity (605–538 BCE), God would gather the nations and “take them down to the Valley of Yehoshaphat, and I will contend with them there concerning My people and My heritage, Israel, which they scattered among the nations, and My land they divided” (4:1-2). The Beit Zeita Valley, the Tyropoeon Valley, and the Ben Hinnom Valley all converge with the Kidron as it skirts east of Temple Mount and the City of David. In Jerusalem, the Gihon spring issued from the Kidron’s western flank, and rock-cut, monumental tombs (e.g., the Tomb of Avshalom, the Tomb of Zkharyah, and the Tomb of Hezir’s Sons) were carved out of its eastern flank (the western base of the Mount of Olives), forming a necropolis. Farther to the south, in the Judean Desert, the Christian monastery of Mar Saba features on the Kidron’s steep slope as do numerous hermits’ caves. The Kidron (“dark”) derives its name from its dim stream in winter, or else from its depth or cedars.
17. Tyropoeon – A depression running from Jaffa Gate to the Pool of Shiloah (Siloam), the Tyropoeon (“Valley of the Cheesemakers”) formerly divided Jerusalem’s upper city and (the erroneously named) Mount Zion to the west from Temple Mount and the lower city to the east. Bridges spanned the valley during the Hasmonean era (167–63 BCE). Over the centuries the valley was filled in with aggregated detritus. One of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Copper Scroll, refers to it as the Outer Valley, and Tyropoeon might have been a Greek mistranslation of the Hebrew word for “outer”.
18. R’phaim – A verdant plain between Jerusalem and Beit Lehem, reaching from the Ben Hinnom Valley to the Judean Desert hill now occupied by the Christian monastery Mar Elias. R’phaim was a scene of battle between King David and the Philistines. The Judah-Benjamin border ran across its northern end. Today its section within Jerusalem consists of the German Colony neighborhood and its chic Emmek R’phaim Street. R’phaim (“ghosts” or “giants”) may have been named after a Transjordanian tribe or clan by this name, dating at least to Abraham’s time, that became famous for the tall stature and mighty prowess of its members, and that eventually settled in its namesake valley.
19. Ayalon – A broad valley serving as an ingress to the Judean Hills and mentioned in the El-Amarna letters. During the Battle of Givon (c. 1265 BCE) against the Amorites, Joshua bade the moon to stand still over Ayalon. The city of Ayalon, wherefrom the valley derives its name, was initially allotted to the original (southwestern) tribal territory of Dan, and soon it and its pasture lands were designated a Levitical city; in time the Benjaminites Beriah and Shema became prominent in Ayalon and drove away the Philistines of Gath. The faint and weary Israelites under King Saul and his son Jonathan slew the Philistines on the battleground at Ayalon and beyond. King Rehoboam of Judah fortified, garrisoned, and provisioned the city of Ayalon as part of a network of fortifications to defend the tribal territories of Judah, Shimon, and Benjamin against the northern Kingdom of Israel. The valley was briefly invaded both by Pharaoh Shishak (Sheshonk) I of Egypt during the reign of Rehoboam (931–914 BCE), and later by the Philistines during the reign of King Ahaz of Judah (742–726 BCE). The Ayalon features the ancient hot springs at Emmaus-Nicopolis, where the Hasmonean hero Judah Maccabee routed the Seleucids (Syrian-Greeks) under Nicanor during the Maccabean Rebellion (167–134 BCE) and later where the Talmudic sages Nehunya ben HaKanah and Elazar ben Arakh lived, and which hosted Muslim Arab armies in the seventh century. During the Middle Ages, the crusader fort of Latrun was established. Due to its geostrategic value as an approach to Jerusalem, the valley also witnessed warfare during British general Edmund Allenby’s military campaign against the Ottoman Turks in 1917, and again in 1948 during Israel’s War of Independence (1947–1949). The Israel Defense Forces reclaimed the region during the Six-Day War of 1967.
20. Sorek – A valley winding from the Judean Hills through the Shfeilah foothills and skirting the original (southwestern) tribal territory of Dan as well as Philistia. Here, in one of the central ingresses to and drainage basins of Judah’s heights, the Israelite Judge and strongman Samson encountered the duplicitous Philistiness, Delilah. The Philistine city of Ekron and the Israelite city of Beit Shemesh (Ir Shemesh) were sited along the valley, whose name denotes “choicest vines” and refers as well to “red grapes”. The old Jaffa-Jerusalem railway line runs through the valley, whose perennial stream nowadays features seawater desalination plants at its mouth.
21. Eilah – Located in the Shfeilah foothills in the tribal territory of Judah, near Azeikah and Sokhoh, the fertile valley is named after its terebinths, although its flora and fauna are diverse. Here a young slinger, David of Beit Lehem, felled the Philistine giant Goliath of Gath in their fateful duel. A seasonal brook whose streambed possesses many smooth stones courses through the valley during winter after heavy rains.
22. Guvrin – The Guvrin Valley (Nahal Guvrin) traverses the Shfeilah foothills and connects the Hebron Hills to Mareshah and Beit Guvrin before reaching the southern Coastal Plain at Ashkelon. Nahal Guvrin’s upper course (known as Wadi el-Feranj/el-Afranj in Arabic) begins just southwest of Hebron; its lower course (known as Wadi Safiyeh/Wadi Zeita in Arabic) is the Tzfatah Valley, where King Asa of Judah confronted and routed the invader Zerah the Kushite and his vast army and hundreds of chariots.
23. Lakhish – The Lakhish Valley traverses the Shfeilah foothills and connects the Hebron Hills to Lakhish before reaching the southern Coastal Plain between Ashkelon and Gaza. On a low hill in the south of the valley lies the fortified city of Lakhish, originally a Canaanite city-state, whose summit rises about 165 feet above the valley to its north. During the period of the Israelite repatriation to the Land of Israel (c. 1273–1245 BCE), Joshua and the Israelites encamped in the valley and besieged and conquered Lakhish. Following the division (931 BCE) of the United Monarchy of Israel (1030–931 BCE), the city of Lakhish became second in importance only to Jerusalem within the southern Kingdom of Judah. King Rehoboam of Judah refortified the city, which was nonetheless captured and apparently destroyed by Pharaoh Shishak (Sheshonk) I of Egypt during his military campaign in Rehoboam’s fifth regnal year (927 BCE). At Lakhish the loathed King Amatzyahu of Judah sought refuge from conspirators in Jerusalem, who tracked him down and slew him on-site. Emperor Sennacherib of Assyria and his army encamped in the area, and besieged and conquered Lakhish in 701 BCE. The city was again refortified as a strategic stronghold during the reign of King Josiah of Judah (640–609 BCE), but was again besieged and destroyed by Emperor Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylonia in 587/586 BCE. Today the valley features several vineyards. In Arabic the Lakhish Valley is known as Wadi Ghufr (and the city of Lakhish as Tel ed-Duweir).
24. Adorayim – The southernmost of the six transverse valleys that divide the Shfeilah foothills and connect the southern Coastal Plain and the central hill country of Judah. The valley derives its name from its eponymous village of Adorayim (also known as Adora; modern Dura), a twofold site originally built upon a pair of hills (in Arabic known as Dura al-Amriyyah and Dura al-Arjayn) southwest of Hebron. Following the division (931 BCE) of the United Monarchy of Israel (1030–931 BCE), King Rehoboam of Judah fortified the double mound, which overlooked the valley and defended the Hebron Hills. During the Hellenistic era (332–167 BCE), Adora became one of the chief cities of Idumea—the new territory of Edom in southern Judah (the northern Negev Desert)—and was mentioned in the Zenon Papyri (259 BCE). During the Hasmonean era (167–63 BCE), the Adorayim Valley and Idumea as a whole were reclaimed by the Hasmonean ruler and high priest Yohanan Hyrkanos, and Adora retained its Jewish character until after the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132–135 CE). Along the Adorayim Valley lie several ruins such as Tel Aaton, Tel Agra, Tel Keshet, and Tel el-Hesi, and today the valley also features the Adorayim dam.
25. Eshkol – A fruitful valley in the vicinity of Hebron, perhaps to be identified with modern Wadi Taffuh/Tuffah (which connects to the upper course of the Guvrin Valley) or else located in close proximity thereto. Here the 12 Israelite scouts severed a bough bearing a cluster (eshkol) of grapes requiring two men to carry it back on a pole; they also returned with samples of pomegranates and figs. These specimens attested to the lush abundance of the Promised Land. The valley originally might have been named after one of the three Amorite brothers who had allied themselves with the patriarch Abraham in his military campaign against King Khedarlaomer of Elam.
26. Brakhah – King Yehoshaphat of Judah assembled his men in this wide, green valley west of Tekoa after three days of despoiling the Ammonites and Moabites; here they blessed God for their good fortune, giving the valley its name (“blessing”). The Brakhah Valley rests between Tekoa and Beit Tzur, just east of the Hebron-Jerusalem segment of the ancient Derekh HaAvot (The Way of the Patriarchs/The Ridge Route/The Watershed Route) national highway connecting Lower Galilee and the Negev Desert.
27. Jordan Rift – The longest valley in Israel forms part of the Great Rift Valley/Syrian-African Rift extending from southern Turkey to Mozambique. In prehistoric times, Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee) and the Salt Sea (Dead Sea) formed a single saline lake known as “Lake Lisan”. The Jordan (“the descender” or “descended from Dan”) Rift comprises three terraces and incorporates the Hulah Valley, the Jordan Valley, and the Aravah Valley, and features the meandering Jordan River with its numerous affluents and fords. Its valley walls, broken only sporadically by tributary gorges, are mostly steep, sheer, and bare. During the period of the Israelite repatriation to the Land of Israel (c. 1273–1245 BCE), the Israelites traversed the valley near Jericho. King Solomon established his brass-foundries in the clay ground of the Jordan Valley between Sukhot and Tzartan (on the eastern riverbank). Lions roamed the valley in the biblical era. The Jordan Rift trough also features the Salt Sea, the lowest land point on Earth. The main city situated in the Jordan Rift is Jericho, and today the valley is home to dozens of Jewish agricultural communities as well as a number of Arab villages.
28. Shitim – Named after its acacias, Shitim was the Transjordanian site of the Israelites’ dalliance with the daughters of Moab and Midian and where they were consequently afflicted by a plague as punishment. Here the future high priest Pinhas, Aaron’s grandson, slew the Shimonite prince Zimri ben Salu for fornicating with Cozbi the Moabitess. Thereafter Joshua dispatched scouts from Shitim to reconnoiter Jericho. The prophet Joel envisioned that one day the spring flowing from the Temple in Jerusalem would water the valley.
29. Aravah – Biblically, the Aravah (“wilderness”/“steppe”/“plain”) referred mostly to the Jordan Rift Valley from the Jordan River’s outlet at the southern shore of Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee) to the Jordan River’s inlet at the northern shore of the Salt Sea (Dead Sea), also known as the Sea of the Aravah—e., the Jordan Rift Valley’s interlacustrine region, known in Arabic as el-Ghor/al-Ghur and in English as the Jordan Valley. Thereafter, due to a semantic shift, the name Aravah referred solely to the deep cleft (112 miles long) extending from the Salt Sea southward to the Gulf of Eilat. A section of the Aravah, the barren plain on the Salt Sea’s southern shore whose brown soil is flecked with salt, is also known as the Valley of Salt (between Nahal Tzin and Wadi al-Hasa); there King David made a name for himself as a warrior-king by slaying 18,000 Arameans (or Edomites) in battle, and there King Amatzyahu of Judah later slew 10,000 Edomites, engendering his subsequent hubris that proved disastrous. The Aravah’s arid desert—littered with sand, gravel, and boulders—features white rock and tree species such as acacia and tamarisk. Copper mines were developed in the Aravah at Punon (known as Phaino to the Romans; modern Khirbat Faynan, Jordan) and at Timna. The desert steppe was often contested due to its copper resources and to the access it afforded to the Red Sea. The prophet Isaiah envisioned an era when the Aravah would blossom like the lily and be splendid like the central Coastal Plain (the Sharon Plain) and the Kharmel mountain range.
30. Timna – A semicircular (horseshoe-shaped) plain of sand and stone stretching from the lower Negev Desert to the Aravah Valley north of the Gulf of Eilat. A trio of seasonal streambeds—Nahal Timna, Nahal Nehushtan, and Nahal Mangan—traverse the Timna Valley toward the Aravah. In the center of the valley rises Mount Timna, whose tabular summit affords panoramic views of the surrounding plain and the mountains of Edom to the east. The valley features mushroom-shaped hoodoos and natural arches artfully sculpted by wind, humidity, and water erosion; hieroglyphic inscriptions and drawings; mine shafts; galleries; workshops; and the distinctive red sandstone cliff ridges known as Solomon’s Pillars. Copper mining and smelting activities occurred in the western and central sections of the valley beginning in prehistoric times. Ancient Egyptian expeditions to the valley later developed its metallurgic industry, in partnership with local Keinites, Midianites, and Amalekites. A cultic shrine with a rock-cut niche was built in honor of the goddess Hathor during the reign of Pharaoh Seti I of Egypt (c. 1290–1279 BCE), and a sphinxlike head is discernible on a rugged eminence to the east. Roman legionaries of the Legio III Cyrenaica also engaged in copper mining between the second and fourth centuries CE and hauled ore southward to the sizable Be’er Orah furnace. The valley also features acacias, wild ibex herds, and nocturnal wolf packs. Today the valley, a popular tourism and recreation site, includes an artificial lake, a reconstructed Tabernacle, and a visitors’ center.

As would be expected given the topography of the Land of Israel, the Hebrew language contains numerous words denoting valleys, including: Emmek (valley, dell), gai (glen/dale/dingle), beek’ah (rift/cleavage), aravah (wilderness/plain/steppe), khar (plain/pasture/meadow), shfeilah (lowland), kenyon (canyon), arutz (gorge/ravine), agan (basin), and apheek (trough/streambed/riverbed). In addition, many valleys or dry riverbeds that possess intermittent or ephemeral watercourses are designated by the term nahal (stream/brook).

As loci where momentous events occurred, all of the major valleys in Israel appear (some of them scores of times) in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and/or in the post-biblical, historical books I & II Maccabees and The Jewish War and Jewish Antiquities.

While the Land of Israel is primarily hill country, its valleys have always been critical lifelines, places to farm crops and locate flowing water, ingresses to and egresses from every tribal territory and region, as well as battlegrounds. For millennia inhabitants and itinerants alike have profited from exploring, traversing, and cultivating the picturesque valleys of Israel, which continue to entice visitants.