Ancient kingdom east of the Dead Sea in Jordan

Moab

Named in 160 verses across 23 books, first in Genesis 19:37.

מוֹאָבMoab

מוֹאָבִיMoabite

Also called Moabite.

The name means “of his father.” Hitchcock's Bible Names, 1869

About Moab Written by AI

Moab was an ancient kingdom located east of the Dead Sea in the central Transjordan region, in what is now the country of Jordan. The Moabites were a Semitic People from Moab, the son of Lot by his elder daughter (Gen. 19:37). The Moabites first appear in the biblical record at the time of the Exodus. Balak, the king of Moab, feared the Israelites and hired Balaam to curse them (Num. 22-24). The Moabites worshipped the god Chemosh and induced some Israelites to join in their idolatrous sacrifices (Num. 25:1-2). Throughout the time of the judges and early monarchy, the Moabites were in frequent conflict with Israel. King Saul fought against them (1Sam. 14:47), and David subjugated them and made them tributaries (2Sam. 8:2,12). After the division of the kingdom, the Moabites regained their independence. During the reign of King Omri of Israel (c. 884-872 BC), who is mentioned in 1Ki.16.23-28, Moabite lands were reconquered. However, about 40 years later, the Moabite king Mesha rebelled against Israel, as recorded on the famous Moabite Stone discovered in 1868 in Dibon (modern Dhiban, Jordan). The prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Amos all prophesied against Moab (Isa. 15-16, Jer. 48, Ezek. 25:8-11, Amo.2.1-2). After the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC, some Jews took refuge in Moab (Jer. 40:11). Moab disappears as a nation from the historical record sometime during the Persian period.

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

This entry is on the name Moab, and may cover more than one person or place by that name.

The seed of the father, or, according to others, the desirable land, the eldest son of Lot (Gen. 19:37), of incestuous birth.

(2.) Used to denote the people of Moab (Num. 22:3-14; Judg. 3:30; 2 Sam. 8:2; Jer. 48:11, 13).

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(3.) The land of Moab (Jer. 48:24), called also the “country of Moab” (Ruth 1:2, 6; 2:6), on the east of Jordan and the Dead Sea, and south of the Arnon (Num. 21:13, 26). In a wider sense it included the whole region that had been occupied by the Amorites. It bears the modern name of Kerak.

In the Plains of Moab, opposite Jericho (Num. 22:1; 26:63; Josh. 13:32), the children of Israel had their last encampment before they entered the land of Canaan. It was at that time in the possession of the Amorites (Num. 21:22). “Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah,” and “died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord” (Deut. 34:5, 6). “Surely if we had nothing else to interest us in the land of Moab, the fact that it was from the top of Pisgah, its noblest height, this mightiest of the prophets looked out with eye undimmed upon the Promised Land; that it was here on Nebo, its loftiest mountain, that he died his solitary death; that it was here, in the valley over against Beth-peor, he found his mysterious sepulchre, we have enough to enshrine the memory in our hearts.”

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

31.497, 35.783 See it on a map

Where the Bible names it

Genesis 19:37
The older daughter gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites of today.
Genesis 36:35
When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, reigned in his place. And the name of his city was Avith.
Exodus 15:15
Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed; trembling will seize the leaders of Moab; those who dwell in Canaan will melt away,
Numbers 21:11
They journeyed from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim in the wilderness opposite Moab to the east.
Numbers 21:13
From there they moved on and camped on the other side of the Arnon, in the wilderness that extends into the Amorite territory. Now the Arnon is the border between the Moabites and the Amorites.
Numbers 21:15
even the slopes of the wadis that extend to the site of Ar and lie along the border of Moab.”
Numbers 21:20
and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.
Numbers 21:26
Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land as far as the Arnon.
Numbers 21:28
For a fire went out from Heshbon, a blaze from the city of Sihon. It consumed Ar of Moab, the rulers of Arnon’s heights.
Numbers 21:29
Woe to you, O Moab! You are destroyed, O people of Chemosh! He gave up his sons as refugees, and his daughters into captivity to Sihon king of the Amorites.
Numbers 22:3
and Moab was terrified of the people because they were numerous. Indeed, Moab dreaded the Israelites.
Numbers 22:4
So the Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “This horde will devour everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.” Since Balak son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time,
Numbers 22:7
The elders of Moab and Midian departed with the fees for divination in hand. They came to Balaam and relayed to him the words of Balak.
Numbers 22:8
“Spend the night here,” Balaam replied, “and I will give you the answer that the LORD speaks to me.” So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.
Numbers 22:10
And Balaam said to God, “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me this message:
Numbers 22:14
And the princes of Moab arose, returned to Balak, and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.”
Numbers 22:21
So in the morning Balaam got up, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab.
Numbers 22:36
When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the Moabite city on the Arnon border, at the edge of his territory.
Numbers 23:6
So he returned to Balak, who was standing there beside his burnt offering, with all the princes of Moab.
Numbers 23:7
And Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the mountains of the east. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘put a curse on Jacob for me; come and denounce Israel!’
Numbers 23:17
So he returned to Balak, who was standing there by his burnt offering with the princes of Moab. “What did the LORD say?” Balak asked.
Numbers 24:17
I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come forth from Jacob, and a scepter will arise from Israel. He will crush the skulls of Moab and strike down all the sons of Sheth.
Numbers 25:1
While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab,
Numbers 33:44
They set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim on the border of Moab.
Deuteronomy 1:5
On the east side of the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying:
Deuteronomy 2:8
So we passed by our brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned away from the Arabah road, which comes up from Elath and Ezion-geber, and traveled along the road of the Wilderness of Moab.
Deuteronomy 2:9
Then the LORD said to me, “Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as their possession.”
Deuteronomy 2:11
Like the Anakites, they were also regarded as Rephaim, though the Moabites called them Emites.
Deuteronomy 2:18
“Today you are going to cross the border of Moab at Ar.
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 23:3
No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even to the tenth generation.
Deuteronomy 29:1
These are the words of the covenant that the LORD commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant He had made with them at Horeb.
Deuteronomy 32:49
“Go up into the Abarim Range to Mount Nebo, in the land of Moab across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites as their own possession.
Deuteronomy 34:5
So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, as the LORD had said.
Deuteronomy 34:6
And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab facing Beth-peor, and no one to this day knows the location of his grave.
Joshua 24:9
Then Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, set out to fight against Israel. He sent for Balaam son of Beor to curse you,
Judges 3:12
Once again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. So He gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.
Judges 3:14
The Israelites served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years.
Judges 3:15
And again they cried out to the LORD, and He raised up Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed Benjamite, as their deliverer. So they sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.
Judges 3:17
and brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was an obese man.