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Encyclopedia entry · Place

Abarim

also called the Abarim Mountains · the Regions Beyond

Abarim is a mountain range running along the eastern shore of the Dead Sea, in what was the territory of Moab. The name means the regions beyond — a Hebrew designation for the lands east of the Jordan as viewed from Canaan. The range includes Mount Nebo, Mount Pisgah, and other peaks; the high country provides a clear westward view across the Jordan valley into the heart of the Promised Land.

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The Abarim figures in scripture chiefly at the end of the wilderness wanderings. Numbers records Israel's encampment *in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo* (Numbers 33:47) — the final staging ground before crossing into Canaan. Numbers 27 and Deuteronomy 32 narrate the same scene from a personal angle: the LORD calls Moses up into this mountain, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, to see the land he is forbidden to enter. There Moses dies and is buried by the LORD himself in a valley *over against Beth-peor.*

Jeremiah uses the name once more, in 22:20, in a lament against Jerusalem: cry from the passages. Apart from these passages, the range plays no further role in the narrative — but its silhouette stands behind the closing scene of Deuteronomy, the most aching mountain view in the Old Testament.

Source · AI-drafted from biblical text and standard reference works (Smith's, Easton's, ISBE) — verify and refine against authoritative sources before publication.

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In the Bible

7

Verses where Abarim is named. Berean Standard Bible (public domain).

  • 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.

  • Jeremiah 22:20

    Go up to Lebanon and cry out; raise your voice in Bashan; cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers have been crushed.

  • Numbers 21:11

    They journeyed from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim in the wilderness opposite Moab to the east.

  • Numbers 27:12

    Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go up this mountain of the Abarim range and see the land that I have given the Israelites.

  • Numbers 33:44

    They set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim on the border of Moab.

  • Numbers 33:47

    They set out from Almon-diblathaim and camped in the mountains of Abarim facing Nebo.

+1 more verse naming Abarim.