Vale, Valley

1. ’Emek . This appears to approach more nearly to the general sense of the English word than any other. It is connected with several places.
2. Gai or ge . Of this there is fortunately one example which can be identified with certainty --the deep hollow which compasses the southwest and south of Jerusalem. This identification establishes the ge as a deep and abrupt ravine, with steep sides and narrow bottom.
3. Nachal . This word answers to the Arabic wady, and expresses, as no single English word can, the bed of a stream (often wide and shelving, and like a "valley" in character, which in the rainy season may be nearly filled by a foaming torrent, though for the greater part of the year dry).
4. Bik’ah . This term appears to mean rather a plain than a valley, though so far resembling it as to be enclosed by mountains. It is rendered by "valley" in (34:3; Joshua 11:8,17; 12:7; 2 Chronicles 35:22; Zechariah 12:11)
5. has-Shefelah . The district to which the name has-Shefelah is applied in the Bible has no resemblance whatever to a valley, but is a broad, swelling tract of many hundred miles in area, which sweeps gently down from the mountains Judah to the Mediterranean. It is rendered "the vale" in (1:7; Joshua 10:40; 1 Kings 10:27; 2 Chronicles 1:15; Jeremiah 33:13) and "the valley" or "the valleys" in (Joshua 9:1; 11:2,16; 12:8; 15:33; Judges 1:9; Jeremiah 32:44)

val, val'-i:

(1) gay'; either absolute: "from Bamoth to the valley that is in the field of Moab" (Nu 21:20); or with a proper name: "valley of Hinnom," also "valley of the son of Hinnom" (Jos 15:8); "valley of Slaughter" (Jer 7:32); "valley of Zeboim" (1Sa 13:18); "valley of Zephathah" (2Ch 14:10); "valley of Hamon-gog" (Eze 39:11); "valley of Iphtah-el" (Jos 19:14); "valley of the mountains" (Zec 14:5); "Valley of Salt" (2Sa 8:13); "valley of vision" (Isa 22:1); once (in the Revised Version (British and American)) as a place-name: "until thou comest to Gai" (the King James Version "the valley") (1Sa 17:52); also (Revised Version) "Ge-harashim" (1Ch 4:14); compare "valley of craftsmen" (margin "Ge-haharashim") (Ne 11:35).

(2) `emeq, `amoq, "to be deep"; compare Arabic `amuq, "to be deep"; `umq, "depth"; 'Ammiq, a village in the valley of Coele-Syria; absolute: "He could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley" (Jud 1:19); often with place-names: "valley of Achor" (Jos 7:24); "valley of Aijalon" (Jos 10:12); "valley of Gibeon" (Isa 28:21); "vale of Hebron" (Ge 37:14); "valley of Jehoshaphat" (Joe 3:2); "vale of Rephaim," the King James Version "valley of the giants" (Jos 15:8); "vale of Shaveh" (Ge 14:17); "vale of Siddim" (Ge 14:3); "valley of Succoth" (Ps 60:6); compare "valley of Weeping" (the King James Version "Baca") (Ps 84:6); "valley of Beracah" (margin "Blessing") (2Ch 20:26); "valley of decision" (Joe 3:14); "vale of Elah" (margin "terebinth") (1Sa 17:2); "the King's Vale" (Ge 14:17); but "the king's dale" (2Sa 18:18); "Emekkeziz," the King James Version "valley of Keziz" (Jos 18:21).

(3) biq`ah, baqa`, "to cleave," hence, "valley," especially "broad valley" or "plain"; compare Arabic baq`at, "wet meadow" Biqa`, Coele-Syria; absolute: "a land of hills and valleys" (De 11:11); with place-names: "valley of Jericho" (De 34:3); "valley of Lebanon" (Jos 11:17); "valley of Megiddo" (2Ch 35:22); "valley of Mizpah" (Jos 11:8).

(4) nachal, also "river" or "stream"; absolute "Isaac's servants digged (dug) in the valley" (Ge 26:19); with place-names: "valley (the King James Version "river") of the Arnon" (De 2:24); "valley of Eshcol" (Nu 32:9); "valley of Gerar" (Ge 26:17); "valley of Shittim" (Joe 3:18); "valley of Sorek" (Jud 16:4); "valley of Zered" (Nu 21:12).

(5) shephelah, shaphel, "to be low"; compare Arabic safal, "to be low"; the King James Version "valley" or "vale," the Revised Version (British and American) "lowland," the coast and foothills of Western Palestine

(6) aulon, "valley" (Judith 4:4; 7:3; 10:10).

(7) pharagx: "Every valley shall be filled" (Lu 3:5).

The valley gate (Ne 2:13, etc.) may have had about the location of the present Jaffa gate, if by "valley" is meant the valley of Hinnom. If the Tyropoeon is meant, it would have been near the southwestern corner of the charam area.

See JERUSALEM.

The valleys of the mountainous part of Palestine are mostly dry, rocky wadies with occasional torrents m the winter season. Those which descend to the W. widen out as they approach the plain and contain broad fields and meadows which in the winter and spring at least are fresh and green. The valley of the Jordan, the valley of Megiddo and the valley of Lebanon (i.e. Coele-Syria) contain much cultivable land: "the herds that were in the valleys" (1Ch 27:29): "They of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley" (1Sa 6:13); "The valleys also are covered over with grain" (Ps 65:13).

See BROOK; CHAMPAIGN; LOWLAND; RIVER; SHEPHELAH.

Alfred Ely Day