The Salt Sea in the Bible. The lowest place on Earth. The Dead Sea has a salinity of 34 percent; the Great Salt Lake varies between 5 and 27 percent. Earth's oceans have an average salinity of 3.5 percent. The Dead Sea is 1300 feet below sea level and is 1300 feet deep. It receives too little water to replenish and is receding at significant rates. (more photos: Wiki)
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Dead Sea BD Also known as the Salt Sea. Located at the southern end of the Jordan valley, 53 miles long, with an average breadth of 9 miles, its surface being 1290 feet below the Mediterranean, and its greatest depth 1300 feet. It is fed by the Jordan and by several smaller streams and has no outlet except by evaporation. All the mineral salts that the streams bring down are consequently accumulated, and this accounts for the extreme bitterness of the water. Its shores are memorable as the scene of God’s judgment on the cities of the plain: Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Zoar or Bela (see Gen. 14:2; 19:25; Deut. 29:23). The position of these cities is uncertain; they have been placed by some scholars at the northern end (so as to be within view of Bethel) and by others at the southern end.
Vale of Siddim BD The salt sea (Gen. 14:3, 8, 10); ancient name of the district around the Dead Sea.
Machaerus BD A fortress in Perea above the northeastern shore of the Dead Sea. It is not mentioned by name in the New Testament, but Josephus (Antiquities, 18.5.1–2) mentions it as the place where John the Baptist was imprisoned and beheaded, as in Matt. 14:10–11 and Mark 6:17–28. Some ruins still remain at the site.
Moab BD Son of Lot’s eldest daughter (Gen. 19:37). The land of Moab lay east of the Dead Sea. The Moabites were akin to the Israelites and spoke a language that closely resembled Hebrew, but there was constant warfare between the two nations (Num. 22–25; Judg. 3:12–30; 11:17; 2 Sam. 8:2; 2 Kgs. 3:6–27; 13:20; 24:2; 1 Chr. 18:2; 2 Chr. 20:1–25).
Valley of Salt BD South of the Dead Sea, where the Edomites were defeated (1) by David (2 Sam. 8:13; 1 Chr. 18:12); (2) by Amaziah (2 Kgs. 14:7; 2 Chr. 25:11; Ps. 60 heading).
Gomorrah BD The early history of Gomorrah is found in Gen. 10:19; 13:10; 14:2–11; 18:20; its destruction is noted in Gen. 19. See also Deut. 29:23; Isa. 13:19; Jer. 50:40; Amos 4:11; Matt. 10:15; Rom. 9:29; 2 Pet. 2:6; Jude 1:7. The fate of the city was regarded as a warning against sensual wickedness. The five “cities of the plain,” of which Gomorrah was one, probably stood at the southern end of the Dead Sea.
En-gedi BD Fountain of the kid. A place on the western shore of the Dead Sea (Josh. 15:62; 2 Chr. 20:2; Song 1:14; Ezek. 47:10). David dwelt in the “strong holds at En-gedi” (1 Sam. 23:29; 24:1).
(1) The Horite (Gen. 36:20–21; 1 Chr. 1:38).
(2) Mount Seir, or land of Seir; the mountain ridge that ran south from the Dead Sea through the land of Edom; originally inhabited by Horites (Gen. 14:6); Esau’s possession (Gen. 36:8–9, 30; Deut. 2:5; Josh. 24:4); passed through by Jacob (Gen. 32:3; 33:14, 16); by the Israelites (Deut. 1:44; 2:1; 2 Chr. 20:10; see also Isa. 21:11; Ezek. 25:8; 35).
(3) Another Mount Seir, between Kirjath-jearim and Beth-shemesh (Josh. 15:10).