Reference: Plains
Fausets
abel ("meadow"; compare ABEL MEHOLAH.) Biqu'ah, the great, plain Coele ("hollow") Syria between Lebanon and Antilebanon; Bikath Aven, Am 1:5; "the valley (Biqa'ath) of Lebanon" (Jos 11:17; 12:7), Biqua'ath Mizpeh (Jos 11:8); still called el Bekaa, 60 miles long, five broad. Also 2Ch 35:22; Ge 11:2; Ne 6:2; Da 3:1. Hac Ciccar, the region round about the Jordan valley (Ge 13:10; 19:17,25-29). Ham Mishor (De 3:10; 4:43), the smooth (from yaashar, "straight") downs of Moab stretching from Jordan E. of Jericho into the Arabian desert, contrasting with the rugged country W. of Jordan and with the higher lands of Bashan and Argob.
The Belka pasture, regular in its undulations, good in its turf (2Ch 26:10). Ha 'Arabah, the Jordan valley and its continuation S. of the Dead Sea. Ha shephelah, the undulating, rolling, "low hills" between the mountainous part of Judah and the coast plain of the Mediterranean (De 1:7, "the vale"; 2Ch 28:18, "the low country"); Seville in Spain is derived from it. 'Elon ought to be translated "oak" or "oaks" (Ge 12:6; 13:18; Jg 4:11; 9:6,37; 1Sa 10:3). Emek the valley of Jezreel (Esdraelon), the eastern part, Megiddo the western part, of the one plain.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
and it cometh to pass, in their journeying from the east, that they find a valley in the land of Shinar, and dwell there;
And Abram passeth over into the land, unto the place Shechem, unto the oak of Moreh; and the Canaanite is then in the land.
And Lot lifteth up his eyes, and seeth the whole circuit of the Jordan that it is all a watered country (before Jehovah's destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, as Jehovah's garden, as the land of Egypt,) in thy coming toward Zoar,
And Abram tenteth, and cometh, and dwelleth among the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and buildeth there an altar to Jehovah.
And it cometh to pass when he hath brought them out without, that he saith, 'Escape for thy life; look not expectingly behind thee, nor stand thou in all the circuit; to the mountain escape, lest thou be consumed.'
and He overthroweth these cities, and all the circuit, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which is shooting up from the ground. And his wife looketh expectingly from behind him, and she is -- a pillar of salt! read more. And Abraham riseth early in the morning, unto the place where he hath stood before the face of Jehovah; and he looketh on the face of Sodom and Gomorrah, and on all the face of the land of the circuit, and seeth, and lo, the smoke of the land went up as smoke of the furnace. And it cometh to pass, in God's destroying the cities of the circuit, that God remembereth Abraham, and sendeth Lot out of the midst of the overthrow in the overthrowing of the cities in which Lot dwelt.
turn ye and journey for you, and enter the mount of the Amorite, and unto all its neighbouring places, in the plain, in the hill-country, and in the low country, and in the south, and in the haven of the sea, the land of the Canaanite, and of Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Phrat;
all the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salchah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan,
Bezer, in the wilderness, in the land of the plain, of the Reubenite; and Ramoth, in Gilead, of the Gadite; and Golan, in Bashan, of the Manassahite.
and Jehovah giveth them into the hand of Israel, and they smite them and pursue them unto the great Zidon, and unto Misrephoth-Maim, and unto the valley of Mizpeh eastward, and they smite them, till he hath not left to them a remnant;
from the mount of Halak, which is going up to Seir, and unto Baal-Gad, in the valley of Lebanon, under mount Hermon; and all their kings he hath captured, and he smiteth them, and putteth them to death.
And these are kings of the land whom Joshua and the sons of Israel have smitten beyond the Jordan westward, from Baal-Gad, in the valley of Lebanon, and unto the mount of Halak, which is going up to Seir; and Joshua giveth it to the tribes of Israel -- a possession according to their divisions;
And Heber the Kenite hath been separated from the Kenite, from the sons of Hobab father-in-law of Moses, and he stretcheth out his tent unto the oak in Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.
And all the masters of Shechem are gathered together, and all the house of Millo, and come and cause Abimelech to reign for king at the oak of the camp which is in Shechem;
And Gaal addeth yet to speak, and saith, 'Lo, people are coming down from the high part of the land, and another detachment is coming by the way of the oak of Meonenim.'
and he buildeth towers in the wilderness, and diggeth many wells, for he had much cattle, both in the low country and in the plain, husbandmen and vine-dressers in the mountains, and in Carmel; for he was a lover of the ground.
And the Philistines have rushed against the cities of the low country, and of the south of Judah, and capture Beth-Shemesh, and Aijalon, and Gederoth, and Shocho and its villages, and Timnah and its villages, and Gimzo and its villages, and dwell there,
And Josiah hath not turned round his face from him, but to fight against him hath disguised himself, and hath not hearkened unto the words of Necho, from the mouth of God, and cometh in to fight in the valley of Megiddo;
that Sanballat sendeth, also Geshem, unto me, saying, 'Come and we meet together in the villages, in the valley of Ono;' and they are thinking to do to me evil.
Nebuchadnezzar the king hath made an image of gold, its height sixty cubits, its breadth six cubits; he hath raised it up in the valley of Dura, in the province of Babylon;
And I have broken the bar of Damascus, And cut off the inhabitant from Bikat-Aven, And a holder of a sceptre from Beth-Eden, And removed have been the people of Aram to Kir, said Jehovah.
Smith
Plains.
This one term does duty in the Authorized Version for no less than seven distinct Hebrew words.
1. Abel. This word perhaps answers more nearly to our word "meadow" than any other. It occurs in the names of Abel-maim Abel-meholah, Abel-shittim and is rendered "plain" in
"plain of vineyards."
2. Bik'ah. Fortunately we are able to identify the most remarkable of the bik'ahs of the Bible, and thus to ascertain the force of the term. The great plain or valley of Coele-Syria, the "hollow land" of the Greeks, which separates the two ranges of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon is the most remarkable of them all. Out of Palestine we find denoted by the word bik'ah the "plain of the land of Shiner,"
the "plain of Mesopotamia,"
and the "plain in the province of Dura."
3. Ha shefelah the invariable designation of the depressed, flat or gently-undulating region which intervened between the highlands of Judah and the Mediterranean, and was commonly in possession of the Philistines.
4. Elon. Our translators have uniformly rendered this word "plain;" but this is not the verdict of the majority or the most trustworthy of the ancient versions. They regard the word as meaning an "oak" or "grove of oaks," a rendering supported by nearly all the commentators and lexicographers of the present day, The passages in which the word occurs erroneously translated "plain" are as-follows: Plain of Moreh,
Ge 12:6; De 11:30
plain of Mamre,
plain of Zaanaim,
plain of the pillar,
plain of Meonenim,
plain of Tabor,
See Verses Found in Dictionary
and it cometh to pass, in their journeying from the east, that they find a valley in the land of Shinar, and dwell there;
And Abram passeth over into the land, unto the place Shechem, unto the oak of Moreh; and the Canaanite is then in the land.
And Abram tenteth, and cometh, and dwelleth among the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and buildeth there an altar to Jehovah.
And one who is escaping cometh and declareth to Abram the Hebrew, and he is dwelling among the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner, and they are Abram's allies.
And Jehovah appeareth unto him among the oaks of Mamre, and he is sitting at the opening of the tent, about the heat of the day;
are they not beyond the Jordan, behind the way of the going in of the sun, in the land of the Canaanite, who is dwelling in the plain over-against Gilgal, near the oaks of Moreh?
And Heber the Kenite hath been separated from the Kenite, from the sons of Hobab father-in-law of Moses, and he stretcheth out his tent unto the oak in Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.
And all the masters of Shechem are gathered together, and all the house of Millo, and come and cause Abimelech to reign for king at the oak of the camp which is in Shechem;
And Gaal addeth yet to speak, and saith, 'Lo, people are coming down from the high part of the land, and another detachment is coming by the way of the oak of Meonenim.'
Afterwards thou dost come unto the hill of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is, and it cometh to pass, at thy coming in thither to the city, that thou hast met a band of prophets coming down from the high place, and before them psaltery, and tabret, and pipe, and harp, and they are prophesying;
And there is on me there a hand of Jehovah, and He saith to me, 'Rise, go forth to the valley, and there I do speak with thee.' And I rise and go forth unto the valley, and lo, there the honour of Jehovah is standing as the honour that I had seen by the river Chebar, and I fall on my face.
and lo, there the honour of the God of Israel, as the appearance that I saw in the valley.
There hath been upon me a hand of Jehovah, and He taketh me forth in the Spirit of Jehovah, and doth place me in the midst of the valley, and it is full of bones, and He causeth me to pass over by them, all round about, and lo, very many are on the face of the valley, and lo, very dry.