Then Moses ascended from the deserts of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the summit of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. ¹  The Lord showed him the whole land – Gilead to Dan,

the water coming downstream toward them stopped flowing. ¹  It piled up far upstream ²  at Adam (the city near Zarethan); there was no water at all flowing to the sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea). ³  The people crossed the river opposite Jericho. ⁴ 

When the king of Ai saw Israel, he and his whole army quickly got up the next day and went out to fight Israel at the meeting place near the Arabah. ¹  But he did not realize ²  men were hiding behind the city. ³ 

Joshua conquered the whole land, ¹  including the hill country, all the Negev, all the land of Goshen, the lowlands, ²  the Arabah, the hill country of Israel and its lowlands,

Now these are the kings of the land whom the Israelites defeated and drove from their land ¹  on the east side of the Jordan, ²  from the Arnon Valley to Mount Hermon, including all the eastern Arabah:

They had entered ¹  the house while Ish-bosheth ²  was resting on his bed in his bedroom. They mortally wounded him ³  and then cut off his head. ⁴  Taking his head, ⁵  they traveled on the way of the Arabah all that night.

Now send word quickly to David and warn him, ¹  “Don’t spend the night at the fords of the desert ²  tonight. Instead, be sure you cross over, ³  or else the king and everyone who is with him may be overwhelmed.” ⁴ 

He restored the border of Israel from Lebo Hamath in the north to the sea of the Arabah in the south, ¹  in accordance with the word of the Lord God of Israel announced through ²  his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher.

The enemy broke through the city walls, ¹  and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night. ²  They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king’s garden. ³  (The Babylonians were all around the city.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley. ⁴ 

Certainly the Lord will console Zion; he will console all her ruins. He will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the Garden of the Lord. Happiness and joy will be restored to ¹  her, thanksgiving and the sound of music.

They did not ask: ‘Where is the Lord who delivered us out of Egypt, who brought us through the wilderness, through a land of desert sands and rift valleys, through a land of drought and deep darkness, ¹  through a land in which no one travels, and where no one lives?’ ² 

So like a lion from the thicket their enemies will kill them. Like a wolf from the desert they will destroy them. Like a leopard they will lie in wait outside their cities and totally destroy anyone who ventures out. ¹  For they have rebelled so much and done so many unfaithful things. ² 

When King Zedekiah of Judah and all his soldiers saw them, they tried to escape. They departed from the city during the night. They took a path through the king’s garden and passed out through the gate between the two walls. ¹  Then they headed for the Jordan Valley. ² 

But the Babylonian ¹  army chased after them. They caught up with Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho ²  and captured him. ³  They took him to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon at Riblah ⁴  in the territory of Hamath and Nebuchadnezzar passed sentence on him there.

They broke through the city walls, and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night. They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king’s garden. ¹  (The Babylonians had the city surrounded.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley. ² 

All the land will change and become like the Arabah ¹  from Geba to Rimmon, ²  south of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem will be raised up and will stay in its own place from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate ³  and on to the Corner Gate, ⁴  and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses. ⁵