Abarim

Abarim (Hebrew: הָעֲבָרִים, romanized: Hā-Avārīm)^[1][2] is the Hebrew name used in the Bible for a mountain range "across the Jordan", understood as east of the Jordan Rift Valley, i.e. in Transjordan, to the east and south-east of the Dead Sea, extending from Mount Nebo — its highest point — in the north, perhaps to the Arabian desert in the south.

Abarim
Madaba Hills from Mount Nebo at sunrise
Highest point
Elevation	710 m (2,330 ft)
Naming
Native name	הָעֲבָרִים (Hebrew)
Geography
Abarim Show map of Jordan Abarim Show map of Middle East Abarim Show map of Asia
Country	Jordan
Range coordinates	31°45′14″N 35°42′55″E

Etymology and description

According to Cheyne and Black, its Hebrew meaning is "'Those-on-the-other-side'—i.e., of the Jordan."^[3] The Vulgate (Deuteronomy 32:49) gives its etymological meaning as passages.^[4] Its northern part was called Pisgah, and the highest peak of Pisgah was Mount Nebo (Numbers 23:14; 27:12; 21:20; 32:47; Deuteronomy 3:27; 34:1; 32:49).

These mountains are mentioned several times in the Bible:

• Balaam blessed Israel the second time from the top of Mount Pisgah (Numbers 23:14)
• From "the top of Pisgah" i.e. Mount Nebo, an area which belonged to Moab, Moses surveyed the Promised Land (Numbers 27:12 and Deuteronomy 3:27; 32:49), and there he died (34:1,5)
• The Israelites had one of their encampments in the mountains of Abarim (Numbers 33:47,48) after crossing the Arnon
• The prophet Jeremiah linked it with Bashan and Lebanon as locations from which the people cried in vain to God for rescue (Jeremiah 22:20)
• Jeremiah hid the Ark of the Covenant there (II Maccabees 2:4-5). (The book of 2 Maccabees is included in Bibles used by Roman Catholics, but generally not in Protestant or Jewish Bibles.)

See also

• Jordan portal

• Jordanian Highlands, the region that includes this mountain range.
• Biblical names for geographical features possibly part of "Abarim"
  • Mount Seir, the ancient name for the mountainous region between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba; modern Jibāl ash-Sharāh
• Modern names for geographical features possibly synonymous or contained in "Abarim"
  • Al-Sharat or Ash-Sharāh, a highland region in modern-day southern Jordan and northwestern Saudi Arabia
  • Jibāl ash-Sharāh (see Mount Seir), with Petra, Jebe Harun/Mount Aaron, etc.
  • Jebel Proywe, Jordanian mountain north of Little Petra
  • Petra (ancient Reqem/Reqmu/Rakmu) in Seir
  • Jebel Harun, or southern Mount Hor near Petra, with the alleged tomb of Aaron
• Related geographical features
  • Midian Mountains, Saudi Arabian mountains to the south