BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

What Is the Jezreel Valley?

Scene of Armageddon and other biblical battles

The lower city and tell of Beit Shean in the Jezreel Valley. Courtesy Nathan Steinmeyer, BAS.

A natural route connecting the Coastal Plain to the Jordan Valley and beyond, the Jezreel Valley is the site of numerous biblical events, including the apocalyptic battle of Armageddon (Revelation 16:16). Home to an impressive list of archaeological sites, the Jezreel Valley is one of the areas that no tourist to the Holy Land should miss.

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From Jezreel to Armageddon

Lush and fertile, the Jezreel Valley stretches west to east from the area of Haifa along the coast to the site of Beth Shean at the edge of the Jordan Valley. North to south, the valley is squeezed between the Galilee and the central hill country. Several miles wide in places, the valley is a relatively flat stretch of land that formed a natural corridor along which people have traveled since prehistory.

Map of the Holy Land with the Jezreel Valley highlighted. BAS

Today, the area is mainly an agricultural zone with a few small cities. In antiquity, however, the valley was an important commercial and strategic corridor, including a stretch of the Via Maris trade route that connected Egypt to Mesopotamia. Due to this, several large cities thrived in the Jezreel Valley during the Bronze and Iron Ages, including the city of Jezreel, from which the valley derives its name. Other important cities included Shimron, Beth Shean, and Megiddo. During the Roman period, the valley was home to the Sixth Roman “Ironclad” Legion, which may have influenced the description of an apocalyptic battle taking place at Armageddon, a name derived from the Hebrew Har Megiddo (Mount Megiddo).

Tell Megiddo seen from the Roman Legionary fort of Legio in the Jezreel Valley. Courtesy Nathan Steinmeyer, BAS.

According to the Hebrew Bible, the Jezreel Valley was the setting for many important biblical events. Among them were Deborah and Barak’s battle against the Canaanites, the battle of Gideon against the Amalekites, and even King Josiah’s untimely death at the hands of the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho II. However, many more biblical events are documented as having taken place in and around the Jezreel Valley, providing further evidence of its great importance.

Related reading in Bible History Daily

What Is the Shephelah?

What Is the Galilee?

What Is the Negev?

All-Access members, read more in the BAS Library

Jezreel—Where Jezebel Was Thrown to the Dogs

Archaeological Views: Returning to Jezreel

Have We Found Naboth’s Vineyard at Jezreel?