Valley of Beracah
Valley of Beracah is a location mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Judea in modern-day Israel. Known today as Wadi el Arrub. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
The Valley of Beracah enters the biblical narrative through a remarkable account in 2 Chronicles 20. When King Jehoshaphat of Judah faced an overwhelming coalition of Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites, he called the nation to prayer and fasting rather than military mobilization. God responded through the prophet Jahaziel, assuring Jehoshaphat that the battle belonged to the LORD. The next morning, as the army of Judah went out to the wilderness of Tekoa, they found their enemies had turned on one another in the night, and not a single survivor remained. Jehoshaphat led his people to the valley to collect the plunder, a task so abundant it took three days. On the fourth day, the assembled community gathered in the valley to bless the LORD, giving rise to the name Beracah, meaning "blessing" (2 Chronicles 20:26). The valley thus became a monument to divine deliverance and communal praise. It stands as one of the Old Testament's most vivid illustrations of God's response to prayer and faith, and the name itself was embedded into the landscape as a perpetual testimony to the victory God had given.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
The Valley of Beracah is generally identified with Wadi el Arrub, a valley in the Judean highlands south of Bethlehem and northwest of Tekoa, near the modern town of Beit Ummar. A site in this region has traditionally been called Bereikut by local Arabs, preserving an echo of the ancient Hebrew toponym. The area sits along ancient routes connecting Hebron to Jerusalem and the Judean wilderness. Archaeological surface surveys of the broader region have identified Iron Age settlement activity consistent with the Judean monarchy period, though no systematic excavation specifically targeting the Valley of Beracah has been published. The valley's pastoral character and proximity to Tekoa align well with the 2 Chronicles 20 narrative.
Verse Appearances (1)
2Chr
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]