A river and region, significant in Israel's history

Jordan

Named in 179 verses across 21 books, first in Genesis 13:10.

יַרְדֵּןJordan

ἸορδάνηςJordan

The name means “the river of judgment.” Hitchcock's Bible Names, 1869

About Jordan Written by AI

The Jordan River, the most prominent river in the Bible, flows from north to south through the Jordan Valley and empties into the Dead Sea. The river and its surrounding region, also known as the Jordan Valley or the Plain of Jordan, are mentioned numerous times throughout the Old and New Testaments. The Jordan River formed the eastern boundary of the Promised Land (Numbers 34:12) and was crossed by the Israelites under Joshua's leadership when they entered Canaan (Joshua 3-4). The river also served as a boundary between the tribes settling east and west of the Jordan (Joshua 22:25). Several significant events took place along the Jordan, including the parting of the river for Elijah and Elisha (2Ki.2.6-14), Naaman's healing (2Ki.5.10-14), and John the Baptist's ministry of baptism (Matthew 3:5-6; Mrk.1.5). The Jordan Valley was known for its fertile land, as seen in Lot's choice to settle there (Genesis 13:10-11). The region also served as a refuge for Elijah (1Ki.17.3-5) and David (2Sa.17.22-24). In the New Testament, Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River (Matthew 3:13; Mrk.1.9) and conducted ministry in the region (Matthew 4:25; 19:1). The Jordan River and its surrounding area continue to hold great significance for Christians, Jews, and Muslims today.

Drafted by an AI model for STEPBible's TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Check it against the verses below.

Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897

Heb. Yarden, “the descender;” Arab. Nahr-esh-Sheriah, “the watering-place” the chief river of Palestine. It flows from north to south down a deep valley in the centre of the country. The name descender is significant of the fact that there is along its whole course a descent to its banks; or it may simply denote the rapidity with which it “descends” to the Dead Sea.

It originates in the snows of Hermon, which feed its perennial fountains. Two sources are generally spoken of. (1.) From the western base of a hill on which once stood the city of Dan, the northern border-city of Palestine, there gushes forth a considerable fountain called the Leddan, which is the largest fountain in Syria and the principal source of the Jordan. (2.) Beside the ruins of Banias, the ancient Caesarea Philippi and the yet more ancient Panium, is a lofty cliff of limestone, at the base of which is a fountain. This is the other source of the Jordan, and has always been regarded by the Jews as its true source. It rushes down to the plain in a foaming torrent, and joins the Leddan about 5 miles south of Dan (Tell-el-Kady). (3.) But besides these two historical fountains there is a third, called the Hasbany, which rises in the bottom of a valley at the western base of Hermon, 12 miles north of Tell-el-Kady. It joins the main stream about a mile below the junction of the Leddan and the Banias. The river thus formed is at this point about 45 feet wide, and flows in a channel from 12 to 20 feet below the plain. After this it flows, “with a swift current and a much-twisted course,” through a marshy plain for some 6 miles, when it falls into the Lake Huleh, “the waters of Merom” (q.v.).

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During this part of its course the Jordan has descended about 1,100 feet. At Banias it is 1,080 feet above sea-level. Flowing from the southern extremity of Lake Huleh, here almost on a level with the sea, it flows for 2 miles “through a waste of islets and papyrus,” and then for 9 miles through a narrow gorge in a foaming torrent onward to the Sea of Galilee (q.v.).

“In the whole valley of the Jordan from the Lake Huleh to the Sea of Galilee there is not a single settled inhabitant. Along the whole eastern bank of the river and the lakes, from the base of Hermon to the ravine of Hieromax, a region of great fertility, 30 miles long by 7 or 8 wide, there are only some three inhabited villages. The western bank is almost as desolate. Ruins are numerous enough. Every mile or two is an old site of town or village, now well nigh hid beneath a dense jungle of thorns and thistles. The words of Scripture here recur to us with peculiar force: ‘I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation...And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it...And your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate’ (Lev. 26:31-34).”, Dr. Porter’s Handbook.

From the Sea of Galilee, at the level of 682 feet below the Mediterranean, the river flows through a long, low plain called “the region of Jordan” (Matt. 3:5), and by the modern Arabs the Ghor, or “sunken plain.” This section is properly the Jordan of Scripture. Down through the midst of the “plain of Jordan” there winds a ravine varying in breadth from 200 yards to half a mile, and in depth from 40 to 150 feet. Through it the Jordan flows in a rapid, rugged, tortuous course down to the Dead Sea. The whole distance from the southern extremity of the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea is in a straight line about 65 miles, but following the windings of the river about 200 miles, during which it falls 618 feet. The total length of the Jordan from Banias is about 104 miles in a straight line, during which it falls 2,380 feet.

There are two considerable affluents which enter the river between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, both from the east. (1.) The Wady Mandhur, called the Yarmuk by the Rabbins and the Hieromax by the Greeks. It formed the boundary between Bashan and Gilead. It drains the plateau of the Hauran. (2.) The Jabbok or Wady Zerka, formerly the northern boundary of Ammon. It enters the Jordan about 20 miles north of Jericho.

The first historical notice of the Jordan is in the account of the separation of Abraham and Lot (Gen. 13:10). “Lot beheld the plain of Jordan as the garden of the Lord.” Jacob crossed and recrossed “this Jordan” (32:10). The Israelites passed over it as “on dry ground” (Josh. 3:17; Ps. 114:3). Twice afterwards its waters were miraculously divided at the same spot by Elijah and Elisha (2 Kings 2:8, 14).

The Jordan is mentioned in the Old Testament about one hundred and eighty times, and in the New Testament fifteen times. The chief events in gospel history connected with it are (1) John the Baptist’s ministry, when “there went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and were baptized of him in Jordan” (Matt. 3:6). (2.) Jesus also “was baptized of John in Jordan” (Mark 1:9).

M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary, third edition (1897), public domain, from CrossWire. Shown as written; its Scripture quotes are from older translations.

32.309, 35.560 See it on a map

Where the Bible names it

Genesis 13:10
And Lot looked out and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
Genesis 13:11
So Lot chose the whole plain of the Jordan for himself and set out toward the east. And Abram and Lot parted company.
Genesis 32:10
I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant. Indeed, with only my staff I came across the Jordan, but now I have become two camps.
Genesis 50:10
When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, which is across the Jordan, they lamented and wailed loudly, and Joseph mourned for his father seven days.
Genesis 50:11
When the Canaanites of the land saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a solemn ceremony of mourning by the Egyptians.” Thus the place across the Jordan is called Abel-mizraim.
Numbers 13:29
The Amalekites live in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the Jordan.”
Numbers 22:1
Then the Israelites traveled on and camped in the plains of Moab near the Jordan, across from Jericho.
Numbers 26:3
So on the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho, Moses and Eleazar the priest issued the instruction,
Numbers 26:63
These were the ones numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest when they counted the Israelites on the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho.
Numbers 31:12
They brought the captives, spoils, and plunder to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of Israel at the camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.
Numbers 32:5
“If we have found favor in your sight,” they said, “let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan.”
Numbers 32:19
Yet we will not have an inheritance with them across the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on the east side of the Jordan.”
Numbers 32:21
and if every one of your armed men crosses the Jordan before the LORD, until He has driven His enemies out before Him,
Numbers 32:29
And Moses said to them, “If the Gadites and Reubenites cross the Jordan with you, with every man armed for battle before the LORD, and the land is subdued before you, then you are to give them the land of Gilead as a possession.
Numbers 32:32
We will cross over into the land of Canaan armed before the LORD, that we may have our inheritance on this side of the Jordan.”
Numbers 33:48
They set out from the mountains of Abarim and camped on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.
Numbers 33:49
And there on the plains of Moab they camped by the Jordan, from Beth-jeshimoth to Abel-shittim.
Numbers 33:50
On the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, the LORD said to Moses,
Numbers 33:51
“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
Numbers 34:12
Then the border will go down along the Jordan and end at the Salt Sea. This will be your land, defined by its borders on all sides.”
Numbers 34:15
These two and a half tribes have received their inheritance across the Jordan from Jericho, toward the sunrise.”
Numbers 35:1
Again the LORD spoke to Moses on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho:
Numbers 35:10
“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
Numbers 35:14
Select three cities across the Jordan and three in the land of Canaan as cities of refuge.
Numbers 36:13
These are the commandments and ordinances that the LORD gave the Israelites through Moses on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.
Deuteronomy 1:1
These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan—in the Arabah opposite Suph—between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.
Deuteronomy 1:5
On the east side of the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying:
Deuteronomy 2:29
just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for us, until we cross the Jordan into the land that the LORD our God is giving us.”
Deuteronomy 3:8
At that time we took from the two kings of the Amorites the land across the Jordan, from the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Hermon—
Deuteronomy 3:17
The Jordan River in the Arabah bordered it from Chinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) with the slopes of Pisgah to the east.
Deuteronomy 3:20
until the LORD gives rest to your brothers as He has to you, and they too have taken possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving them across the Jordan. Then each of you may return to the possession I have given you.”
Deuteronomy 3:25
Please let me cross over and see the good land beyond the Jordan—that pleasant hill country as well as Lebanon!”
Deuteronomy 3:27
Go to the top of Pisgah and look to the west and north and south and east. See the land with your own eyes, for you will not cross this Jordan.
Deuteronomy 4:21
The LORD, however, was angry with me on account of you, and He swore that I would not cross the Jordan to enter the good land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
Deuteronomy 4:22
For I will not be crossing the Jordan, because I must die in this land. But you shall cross over and take possession of that good land.
Deuteronomy 4:26
I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live long upon it, but will be utterly destroyed.
Deuteronomy 4:41
Then Moses set aside three cities across the Jordan to the east
Deuteronomy 4:46
while they were in the valley across the Jordan facing Beth-peor in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon and was defeated by Moses and the Israelites after they had come out of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 4:47
They took possession of the land belonging to Sihon and to Og king of Bashan—the two Amorite kings across the Jordan to the east—
Deuteronomy 4:49
including all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan and as far as the Sea of the Arabah, below the slopes of Pisgah.