The Shephelah (Judean Lowlands)
הַשְּׁפֵלָה
Where is the Shephelah? Foothills from the Ayalon Valley south to Lachish. I mark it certain.
Judah fought for these low hills again and again. David faced Goliath here, in the Elah Valley between Socoh and Azekah. Three centuries later Sennacherib stormed Lachish and carved his victory onto his palace walls at Nineveh.
By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker
- Site today
- Foothills from the Ayalon Valley south to Lachish
- How sure
- Certain The name, the sources and the finds all agree.
- Other names
- Judean Foothills
- Location
- 31.6895° N, 34.9581° E (Google Maps)
How we know where it was
Shephelah means lowland. Seen from Jerusalem or Hebron, that is exactly what it is. The Bible treats it as a fixed region, one of Judah's zones beside the hill country and the Negev. The Book of Joshua lists its towns: Eshtaol, Zorah, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah, Lachish, Mareshah and more. They all sit along the belt of rolling foothills west of Jerusalem and Hebron.
In quiet times it was farm country. Solomon made cedar as common as the sycamore figs of the Shephelah. But it was also the buffer between Judah and the Philistine coast, and it saw battle after battle.
Visiting today
Tel Lachish, Tel Azekah, the Elah Valley, Beit Guvrin-Maresha National Park and Tel Beit Shemesh are all open to visitors.
Read it in the Bible
Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.
See Judean Lowlands on the interactive map →
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Get the print + free ebookNearby places
- The Valley of Elah right beside it
- Socoh 2 km
- Azekah 2 km
- Jarmuth 3 km
- Adullam 6 km
- Beth Shemesh 7 km