Reference: Valley
American
With respect to the general features of the Holy Land, see CANAAN; and for descriptions of some of its numerous valleys, see JERUSALEM, JEZREEL, JORDAN, REPHAIM, SHECHIEM, and SODOM. "The valley of the shadow of death," is an expression denoting an extremely perilous and cheerless condition of the soul, Ps 23:4, and may have been suggested by the psalmist's experience with his flock in some of the deep, narrow, and dark ravines of Syria. Thus the entrance to Petra is by long winding defile, between rugged precipices in some spots not more than twelve or fourteen feet apart and two or three hundred feet high, and almost excluding the light of day. See view in SELA. A similar pass south of mount Carmel is now known as the "Valley of Death-shade."
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Yes, though I walk through the [deep, sunless] valley of the shadow of death, I will fear or dread no evil, for You are with me; Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort me.
Easton
(1.) Heb bik'ah, a "cleft" of the mountains (De 8:7; 11:11; Ps 104:8; Isa 41:18); also a low plain bounded by mountains, as the plain of Lebanon at the foot of Hermon around the sources of the Jordan (Jos 11:17; 12:7), and the valley of Megiddo (2Ch 35:22).
(2.) 'Emek, "deep;" "a long, low plain" (Job 39:10,21; Ps 65:13; Song 2:1), such as the plain of Esdraelon; the "valley of giants" (Jos 15:8), usually translated "valley of Rephaim" (2Sa 5:18); of Elah (1Sa 17:2), of Berachah (2Ch 20:26); the king's "dale" (Ge 14:17); of Jehoshaphat (Joe 3:2,12), of Achor (Jos 7:24; Isa 65:10), Succoth (Ps 60:6), Ajalon (Jos 10:12), Jezreel (Ho 1:5).
(3.) Ge, "a bursting," a "flowing together," a narrow glen or ravine, such as the valley of the children of Hinnom (2Ki 23:10); of Eshcol (De 1:24); of Sorek (Jg 16:4), etc.
The "valley of vision" (Isa 22:1) is usually regarded as denoting Jerusalem, which "may be so called," says Barnes (Com. on ISA), "either (1) because there were several valleys within the city and adjacent to it, as the vale between Mount Zion and Moriah, the vale between Mount Moriah and Mount Ophel, between these and Mount Bezetha, and the valley of Jehoshaphat, the valley of the brook Kidron, etc., without the walls of the city; or (2) more probably it was called the valley in reference to its being compassed with hills rising to a considerable elevation above the city" (Ps 125:2; comp. also Jer 21:13, where Jerusalem is called a "valley").
(4.) Heb nahal, a wady or water-course (Ge 26:19; Song 6:11).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
After his [Abram's] return from the defeat and slaying of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh, that is, the King's Valley.
Now Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of living [spring] water.
And they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied it out.
For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills;
But the land which you enter to possess is a land of hills and valleys which drinks water of the rain of the heavens,
And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan son of Zerah, and the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had; and they brought them to the Valley of Achor.
Then Joshua spoke to the Lord on the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, be silent and stand still at Gibeon, and you, moon, in the Valley of Ajalon!
From Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, as far as Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and slew them.
These are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the Israelites defeated on the west side of the Jordan, from Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir. Joshua gave their land to the tribes of Israel for a possession according to their allotments,
Then the boundary went up by the Valley of Ben-hinnom [son of Hinnom] at the southern shoulder of the Jebusite [city] -- "that is, Jerusalem; and the boundary went up to the top of the mountain that lies before the Valley of Hinnom on the west, at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim.
After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah.
Saul and the men of Israel were encamped in the Valley of Elah and drew up in battle array against the Philistines.
And Josiah defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben-hinnom [son of Hinnom], that no man might ever burn there his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech.
On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Beracah. There they blessed the Lord. So the name of the place is still called the Valley of Beracah [blessing].
Yet Josiah would not turn away from him, but disguised himself in order to fight with him. He did not heed the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to fight with him in the valley of Megiddo.
Can you bind the wild ox with a harness to the plow in the furrow? Or will he harrow the furrows for you?
He paws in the valley and exults in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons [of armed men].
God has spoken in His holiness [in His promises]: I will rejoice, I will divide and portion out [the land] Shechem and the Valley of Succoth [west to east].
The meadows are clothed with flocks, the valleys also are covered with grain; they shout for joy and sing together.
The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place which You appointed for them.
As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from this time forth and forever.
[She said] I am only a little rose or autumn crocus of the plain of Sharon, or a [humble] lily of the valleys [that grows in deep and difficult places].
[The Shulammite replied] I went down into the nut orchard [one day] to look at the green plants of the valley, to see whether the grapevine had budded and the pomegranates were in flower.
The mournful, inspired prediction (a burden to be lifted up) concerning the Valley of Vision: What do you mean [I wonder] that you have all gone up to the housetops,
I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.
And [the plain of] Sharon shall be a pasture and fold for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down, for My people who seek Me, inquire of Me, and require Me [by right of their necessity and by right of My invitation].
Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, O rock of the plain, says the Lord -- "you who say, Who shall come down against us? Or, Who shall enter into our dwelling places?
And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.
I will gather all nations and will bring them down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and there will I deal with and execute judgment upon them for [their treatment of] My people and of My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations and [because] they have divided My land.
Let the nations bestir themselves and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about.
Fausets
(See VALE.)