The Scorpions' Ascent

מַעֲלֵה עַקְרַבִּים · “Scorpion's Ascent” on the map

Where was the Scorpions' Ascent? Scorpions' Pass, from Nahal Tzin up to the Negev. I mark it probable.

The road up the Scorpions' Ascent · Photo: חזרתי, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

When G-d drew the borders of the Land for Moses, He pegged the southern line to this climb out of the Aravah.

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

Site today: Scorpions' Pass, from Nahal Tzin up to the Negev
How sure: Probable The best case we have, with real alternatives.
Other names: Ascent of Akrabbim, Maaleh Akrabbim, Scorpion Pass, Scorpions' Pass, Akrabbim, Naqb es-Safa
Location: 30.9105° N, 35.1322° E (Google Maps)

The Scorpions' Ascent on the hand-drawn Map of Biblical Israel — Scorpion's Ascent on our hand-drawn Map of Biblical Israel. Get the full map as a print →

How we know where it was

The border runs from the southern tip of the Dead Sea, passes "south of the Scorpions' Ascent," and goes on to Zin and Kadesh Barnea. Judah's border follows the same line. So the text needs a prominent pass rising west from the Dead Sea depression toward Zin. Naqb es-Safa, today's Scorpions' Pass, is the main one, and most scholars identify the two. Roman engineers later cut a stepped road up the same slope to link the Aravah with Mamshit.

But no name survives here, and no inscription confirms it. Some take the Scorpions' Ascent as the whole escarpment rather than one road. Others look for a different pass nearer the line to Zin and Kadesh.

Visiting today

The old serpentine road is closed to cars but open to hikers and cyclists. From the lookout at the top you see the Roman road, Metzad Tzafir and the Zin valley below.