Encyclopedia entry
Kidron
= Kedron = Cedron, turbid, the winter torrent which flows through the Valley of Jehoshaphat, on the eastern side of Jerusalem, between the city and the Mount of Olives. This valley is known in Scripture only by the name “the brook Kidron.” David crossed this brook bare-foot and weeping, when fleeing from Absalom (2 Sam. 15:23, 30), and it was frequently crossed by our Lord in his journeyings to and fro (John 18:1). Here Asa burned the obscene idols of his mother (1 Kings 15:13), and here Athaliah was executed (2 Kings 11:16). It afterwards became the receptacle for all manner of impurities (2 Chr. 29:16; 30:14); and in the time of Josiah this valley was the common cemetery of the city (2 Kings 23:6; comp. Jer. 26:23).
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Through this mountain ravine no water runs, except after heavy rains in the mountains round about Jerusalem. Its length from its head to en-Rogel is 2 3/4 miles. Its precipitous, rocky banks are filled with ancient tombs, especially the left bank opposite the temple area. The greatest desire of the Jews is to be buried there, from the idea that the Kidron is the “valley of Jehoshaphat” mentioned in Joel 3:2.
Below en-Rogel the Kidron has no historical or sacred interest. It runs in a winding course through the wilderness of Judea to the north-western shore of the Dead Sea. Its whole length, in a straight line, is only some 20 miles, but in this space its descent is about 3,912 feet. (See KEDRON.)
Recent excavations have brought to light the fact that the old bed of the Kidron is about 40 feet lower than its present bed, and about 70 feet nearer the sanctuary wall.
In the Bible
11
Verses where Kidron is named. Berean Standard Bible (public domain).
- 1 Kings 2:37
On the day you go out and cross the Kidron Valley, know for sure that you will die; your blood will be on your own head.”
- 1 Kings 15:13
He also removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made a detestable Asherah pole. Asa chopped down the pole and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
- 2 Chronicles 15:16
King Asa also removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made a detestable Asherah pole. Asa chopped down the pole, crushed it, and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
- 2 Chronicles 29:16
So the priests went inside the house of the LORD to cleanse it, and they brought out to the courtyard all the unclean things that they found in the temple of the LORD. Then the Levites took these things and carried them out to the Kidron Valley.
- 2 Chronicles 30:14
They proceeded to remove the altars in Jerusalem and to take away the incense altars and throw them into the Kidron Valley.
- 2 Kings 23:4
Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests second in rank, and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the LORD all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and all the host of heaven. And he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.
+5 more verses naming Kidron.
Scripture on Kidron
12
Entries that reference Kidron
20
Kidron references
17
Sources · Hitchcock's Bible Names (1869) · Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
Public-domain text. Modernized only where archaic spelling impedes reading; original facts preserved. Verify against an authoritative modern reference before quoting.