VALLEY (valli), is used to translate five dis tinct Hebrew words.
1. (Heb. ay'mek, to be deep). This ap proaches more nearly to the general sense of the English word than any other. It is connected with valley of Jezreel (Josh. xvii :16; Judg. vi : 33 ; Hos. i :5) ; Achor (Josh. vii :24. 26; xv :7 ' • Is. lxv :to; Hos. ii :Is) ; Ajalon (Josh. x :12) ; He bran (Gen. xxxvii :14) ; • _I chashaphat (Joel iii :2, 12), called (verse 14), figuratively, the valley of decision; Keziz (Josh. xviii :21).
The same word is applied to certain well-known places : The valley of booths ( Ps. lx :6 ; cviii :7, A.V. "of Succoth") ;the valley of weeping (Ps. lxxxiv: 6, A. V. "valley of Baca") ; the valley of blessing (2 Chron. xx :26, A. V. "valley of Berachah") ; valley of Slzavelt (Gen. xiv :17), or of the king ("dale" Gen. xiv:17; 2 Sam. xviii :18) ; valley of the slime pits (Gen. xiv :3, 8, to, A. V. "of Sid dim") ; • valley of the oak (I Sam. xvii :2, ig; xxi :9, A. V. "valley of Elah") ; valley of giants (Josh. xv :8; xviii :16 ; "valley of Rephaim," a Sam. V:I8, 22, etc.).
2. (Heb. a gorge). Of this natural feature there is one example remaining which can be identified with certainty—the deep hollow which encompasses the southwest and south of Jerusalem, and which is the Ge-ben-hinnom of the Old Testament. This identification appears to establish the Gah'ee as a deep, abrupt ravine, with steep sides and narrow bottom. Other Gahees
are, Gedor, Jiphthah-el, Zeboim, Zephathah, that of salt, of the craftsmen, that on the north side of Ai, and the one opposite Beth Poor in Moab. (For Scripture references see the respective head ings.) 3. (Heb. nakh'al, receiving). This ex presses the bed of a stream, often wide and shelving, and the stream itself, which after the subsidence of the rains has shrunk to insignificant dimensions.
4. (Heb. bik-aw', a split). This term appears to mean rather a plain than a valley, and one inclosed by mountains, like the wide district between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon. It is ren dered by "valley" in Deut. xxxiv :3 ; Josh. xi :8, 17; Xii.:7; 2 Chron. XXXV :22; Zech.
5. (Heb. hash-shef-ay-law', "valley" is a poor rendering), the district to which the name has-Shefelah is applied in the Bible has no resem blance to a valley, but is a broad tract of many hundred miles, which sweeps gently down from the mountains of Judah to the Mediterranean.
It is rendered "the vale" in Deut. i :7; Josh.
x :4o; I Kings x :27; 2 Chron. i:15; Jer. xxxiii: 13; and "the valley" or "valleys" in Josh. ix:1; xi :2, 16; xii :8 ; xv :33 ; Judg. i :g; Jer. xxxii :44. (See PALESTINE; PLAIN.)