ES'DRAE'LON, es'dra-lon or es-drW-lon (Gk. 'Ecrop)Xwv, the Greek form 01 the Hebrew word, rendered as Jezreel in the English Bible, meaning God has sown). The greatest plain in Palestine, separat ing the mountain ranges of Galilee from those of Samaria, watered by the Kishon. it may be de scribed as a triangle, having for its base the high hills—of which Mount Gilboa is the most impor tant—forming the watershed between the Jordan and the Kishon, extending north and south from Nazareth to Jenin, a distance of about 15 miles. The northern boundary is the hills of Galilee westward from Nazareth about 12 miles to a point where the Kishon breaks through in a narrow pass leading to the seacoast and Acco. On the southwest is the Carmel range, extending from the sea to Jenin, about 20 miles. The plain was allotted to lssachar in the division among the tribes (Josh. xix. 17-23). It is of great fertility, and has been of much importance in the annals of Palestine. Armies and caravans from all directions must pass through it, and, owing to its level character, it naturally became the field on which were fought the decisive battles for the possession or defense of Palestine and Syria. It
was the scene of the triumph of Barak over Sisera (Judges iv.) and of Gideon over the 3lidian ites (Judges vii.), as well as the final defeat of Saul by the Philistines (1. Sam. xxxi.) and of Josiah by Pharaoh-Ne•bo of Egypt (11. Kings xxiii. 29-30). The great contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal took place on its west ern border (l. Kings xviii. 17 sqq.). It was through the plain that Jelin came riding to Jez reel (11. Kings ix. 16 sqq.). The armies of As syria and Egypt met there repeatedly, and in modern times the plain has figured in the wars of Napoleon. To the writer of the Apocalypse the plain was the battlefield par excellence, and there lie beholds "the kings of the earth and of the whole world" gathered for the battle of the great day of God (Rev. xvi. 14, 161. Consult George Adam Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land (New York, 1S95).