arava · plain, desert plain

What it means

arava (עֲרָבָה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “plain, desert plain”.

Plain, steppe: flat, dry land; especially the valley of the Jordan (the Arabah).

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. The valley of the Jordan and the Dead Sea.
2. Flat, dry land, where there is almost no water.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Arid plain, steppe; with the article, the Arabah, the depression of the Jordan and the Salt Sea toward the south. In the plural, the plains of Moab or of Jericho.

• The Arabah, the region of the Jordan Deuteronomy 1:1Deuteronomy 3:17Joshua 3:16
• The plains of Moab Numbers 22:1Deuteronomy 34:8
• Fleeing by way of the Arabah 2 Kings 25:4
• “Make straight in the Arabah a highway” Isaiah 40:3Isaiah 35:1
• The steppe, land of wild donkeys Job 24:5Job 39:6

Historical and cultural background

Israel camped in the plains of Moab, opposite Jericho, before crossing the Jordan, and there it wept for Moses thirty days (Numbers 22:1; Deuteronomy 34:8).

How we translate it

“Arabah” 34 times as the name of the region; “plains” 19 in “the plains of Moab” and “the plains of Jericho”; “steppe” 6 and “steppes” 2 in Job, the Psalms and Jeremiah, where the word describes the land and not the region. “The Sea of the Arabah” is the Salt Sea (Joshua 3:16).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• Arabah ×34
• plains ×19
• steppe ×6
• steppes ×2

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Numbers×9
• Deuteronomy×10
• Joshua×13
• 1 Samuel×1
• 2 Samuel×4
• 2 Kings×3
• Job×2
• Psalms×1
• Isaiah×6
• Jeremiah×9
• Ezekiel×1
• Amos×1
• Zechariah×1

• Numbers 22:1

  And the sons of Israel set out and camped in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan at Jericho.

• Numbers 26:3

  Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying,

• Numbers 26:63

  These are those counted by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who counted the sons of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.

• Numbers 31:12

  and they brought to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the community of the sons of Israel the captives, the plunder, and the spoil, to the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan opposite Jericho.

• Numbers 33:48

  They set out from the mountains of Abarim and camped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.

• Numbers 33:49

  They camped by the Jordan, from Beth-jeshimoth as far as Abel-shittim, in the plains of Moab.

• Numbers 33:50

  YHWH spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying,

• Numbers 35:1

  YHWH spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying,

• Numbers 36:13

  These are the commandments and the rules that YHWH commanded through Moses to the sons of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.

• Deuteronomy 1:1

  These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah, opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab.

• Deuteronomy 1:7

  Turn, set out, and go to the hill country of the Amorite and to all its neighbors, in the Arabah, in the hill country, in the Shephelah, in the Negev, and on the coast of the sea, the land of the Canaanite, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.

• Deuteronomy 2:8

  So we passed by, away from our brothers, the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the way of the Arabah, from Elath and from Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.

• Deuteronomy 3:17

  and the Arabah, with the Jordan as the border, from Chinnereth as far as the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah on the east.

• Deuteronomy 4:49

  and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan eastward, as far as the Sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.

• Deuteronomy 11:30

  Are they not beyond the Jordan, behind the road of the sunset, in the land of the Canaanite who lives in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?

• Deuteronomy 34:1

  And Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and YHWH showed him all the land: Gilead as far as Dan,

• Deuteronomy 34:8

  And the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; and the days of weeping in mourning for Moses were completed.

• Joshua 3:16

  the waters coming down from above stopped; they rose up in one heap, very far away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, came to an end, were cut off. And the people crossed opposite Jericho.

• Joshua 4:13

  About forty thousand armed men of the army crossed before YHWH for battle to the plains of Jericho.

• Joshua 5:10

  The sons of Israel camped at Gilgal, and they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho.

• Joshua 8:14

  And it came about, when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hurried and rose early and went out to meet Israel in battle, he and all his people, at the appointed time before the Arabah; but he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city.

• Joshua 11:2

  and to the kings who were in the north, in the hill country, in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, in the Shephelah, and in the heights of Dor on the west,

• Joshua 11:16

  So Joshua took all this land: the hill country, all the Negev, all the land of Goshen, the Shephelah, the Arabah, and the hill country of Israel and its Shephelah,

• Joshua 12:1

  Now these are the kings of the land whom the sons of Israel struck and whose land they took possession of beyond the Jordan, toward the rising of the sun, from the brook Arnon to Mount Hermon, and all the Arabah to the east:

• Joshua 12:3

  and the Arabah as far as the Sea of Chinneroth to the east, and as far as the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, to the east, the way to Beth-jeshimoth, and on the south, below the slopes of Pisgah;

• Joshua 12:8

  in the hill country, in the Shephelah, in the Arabah, in the slopes, in the wilderness, and in the Negev: the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:

• Joshua 13:32

  These are what Moses gave as an inheritance in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan at Jericho, to the east.

• Joshua 18:18

  and it passed along to the slope opposite the Arabah on the north, and went down to the Arabah;

• 1 Samuel 23:24

  They arose and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah, to the south of the wasteland.

• 2 Samuel 2:29

  And Abner and his men went through the Arabah all that night; they crossed the Jordan, went through the whole Bithron, and came to Mahanaim.

• 2 Samuel 4:7

  They came into the house while he was lying on his bed in the room where he slept, and they struck him and put him to death and removed his head. They took his head and went by the way of the Arabah all night.

• 2 Samuel 15:28

  Look, I will wait in the plains of the wilderness until word comes from you to tell me.”

• 2 Samuel 17:16

  Now then, send quickly and tell David, saying, ‘Do not spend the night tonight in the plains of the wilderness, but be sure to cross over, or the king and all the people who are with him will be swallowed up.’”

• 2 Kings 14:25

  He brought back the territory of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, which he spoke through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher.

• 2 Kings 25:4

  The city was breached, and all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls that is by the garden of the king, while the Chaldeans were against the city all around; and he went by way of the Arabah.

• 2 Kings 25:5

  The force of the Chaldeans pursued after the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his force was scattered from around him.

• Job 24:5

  Look, like wild donkeys in the wilderness they go out to their work, seeking prey; the steppe yields them bread for the boys.

• Job 39:6

  to whom I gave the steppe as his home, and as his dwellings the salt land.

• Psalms 68:4

  Sing to Elohim, sing psalms to his name; level the way for him who rides through the steppes; Yah is his name, and leap for joy before him.

• Isaiah 33:9

  The land mourns, languishes; Lebanon is abashed, it withers; Sharon has become like the Arabah, and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.

And 21 more times.