The Aijalon Valley

עֵמֶק אַיָּלוֹן · “Ayalon” on the map

Where is the Aijalon Valley? Nahal Ayalon and the Ayalon Valley near Latrun. I mark it certain.

Joshua chased the Amorites down into this valley and called on the sun and moon to stand still until Israel won.

By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker

Site today
Nahal Ayalon and the Ayalon Valley near Latrun
How sure
Certain The name, the sources and the finds all agree.
Other names
Aijalon, Ayalon Stream, Valley of Aijalon, Ajalon, Nahal Ayalon, Wadi Musrara
Location
31.9185° N, 34.9193° E (Google Maps)
The Aijalon Valley on the hand-drawn Map of Biblical Israel
Ayalon on our hand-drawn Map of Biblical Israel. Get the full map as a print →

How we know where it was

The Bible names the valley, not the stream. The modern stream simply took the valley's name. And the valley is fixed by its town. Ayalon survived as the Arab village of Yalo, on the valley's edge near Latrun.

Then follow the road. The Beit Horon ascent drops from Gibeon straight down into this valley. That is the way the Amorites ran, with Joshua behind them, the sun over Gibeon and the moon over Ayalon.

This was a gateway from the coast into the hills of Benjamin and Judah, so everyone wanted it. The Amorites held on here after Joshua. Saul struck the Philistines as far as Ayalon. Generations later the Philistines took it from King Ahaz.

Visiting today

Canada Park near Latrun overlooks the valley, and the ruins of Yalo lie inside the park. The stream's lower course runs beside the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv.

Read it in the Bible

Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.

See Ayalon on the interactive map →

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Nearby places

Sources and further reading