Bible Locations

The Plain in Deuteronomy 34:3 refers to the Jordan Valley near Jericho. When Moses stood on Mount Nebo before his death, God showed him the whole land, including "the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar." The Hebrew word "kikkar," meaning "circle" or "round area," is used for the plain of the Jordan, the wide valley north of the Dead Sea and possibly around its southern end. Genesis 13 uses the same word when Lot chose "the whole plain of the Jordan," which was well watered "like the garden of the Lord," before Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. The area around Jericho is fed by springs, making it an oasis of palms and crops in the hot Jordan Valley, about 800 feet below sea level. Moses saw it from across the river but never entered it.