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."
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Also -- when I walk in a valley of death-shade, I fear no evil, for Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff -- 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).
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And the king of Sodom goeth out to meet him (after his turning back from the smiting of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings who are with him), unto the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's valley.
And Isaac's servants dig in the valley, and find there a well of living water,
'And they turn and go up to the hill-country, and come in unto the valley of Eshcol, and spy it,
'For Jehovah thy God is bringing thee in unto a good land, a land of brooks of waters, of fountains, and of depths coming out in valley and in mountain:
but the land whither ye are passing over to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys; of the rain of the heavens it drinketh water;
And Joshua taketh Achan son of Zerah, and the silver, and the robe, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his ox, and his ass, and his flock, and his tent, and all that he hath, and all Israel with him, and they cause them to go up the valley of Achor.
Then speaketh Joshua to Jehovah in the day of Jehovah's giving up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he saith, before the eyes of Israel, 'Sun -- in Gibeon stand still; and moon -- in the valley of Ajalon;'
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 the border hath gone up the valley of the son of Hinnom, unto the side of the Jebusite on the south (it is Jerusalem), and the border hath gone up unto the top of the hill-country which is on the front of the valley of Hinnom westward, which is in the extremity of the valley of the Rephaim northward;
And it cometh to pass afterwards that he loveth a woman in the valley of Sorek, and her name is Delilah,
and Saul and the men of Israel have been gathered, and encamp by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array to meet the Philistines.
And he hath defiled Topheth, that is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, so that no man doth cause his son and his daughter to pass over through fire to Molech.
And on the fourth day they have been assembled at the valley of Blessing, for there they blessed Jehovah: therefore they have called the name of that place, 'Valley of Blessing,' unto this day.
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;
Dost thou bind a Reem in a furrow with his thick band? Doth he harrow valleys after thee?
They dig in a valley, and he rejoiceth in power, He goeth forth to meet the armour.
God hath spoken in His holiness: I exult -- I apportion Shechem, And the valley of Succoth I measure,
Clothed have lambs the flock, And valleys are covered with corn, They shout -- yea, they sing!
They go up hills -- they go down valleys, Unto a place Thou hast founded for them.
Jerusalem! mountains are round about her, And Jehovah is round about His people, From henceforth even unto the age.
Unto a garden of nuts I went down, To look on the buds of the valley, To see whither the vine had flourished, The pomegranates had blossomed --
The burden of the Valley of Vision. What -- to thee, now, that thou hast gone up, All of thee -- to the roofs?
I open on high places rivers, And in midst of valleys fountains, I make a wilderness become a pond of water, And a dry land become springs of water.
And Sharon hath been for the habitation of a flock, And the valley of Achor for the lying down of a herd, For My people who have sought Me.
Lo, I am against thee -- an affirmation of Jehovah, O inhabitant of the valley, rock of the plain, Who are saying, Who cometh down against us? And who cometh into our habitations?
and it hath come to pass in that day that I have broken the bow of Israel, in the valley of Jezreel.'
Then I have gathered all the nations, And caused them to go down unto the valley of Jehoshaphat, And I have been judged with them there, Concerning My people and Mine inheritance -- Israel, Whom they scattered among nations, And My land they have apportioned.
Wake and come up let the nations unto the valley of Jehoshaphat, For there I sit to judge all the nations around.
Fausets
(See VALE.)