Achor, Valley of

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ACHOR, VALLEY OF

ACHOR, VALLEY OF (Heb. עֵמֶק עָכוֹר), site near Jericho where *Achan was stoned to death for helping himself to some of the forbidden booty taken from Jericho (Josh. 7:24–26). Achor is mentioned in Joshua (15:7) as being located on the border of Judah and Benjamin, between Debir and Adummim. Both Hosea (2:17) and Isaiah (65:10) predicted that in time to come this valley would cease to be a desert. Achor figures in the *Copper Scroll from the Dead Sea as the site of vast hidden treasures. Eusebius (Onom. 18:17–20) located it north of Jericho in the direction of Galgala, and it has been placed by most scholars in or near Wadi el-Qelt, or farther north at the large Wadi Nuwei'imeh. A more recent suggestion is al-Buqei'ah, a large plain in the Judean Desert southwest of Jericho.

bibliography:

Abel, Geog, 2 (1938), 48; Milik, in: rb, 66 (1959), 331–2; Noth, in: zdpv, 71 (1955), 1–59; M. Baillet et al., Discoveries in the Judaean Desert, 3 (1962), 262 ff.; J.M. Allegro, Treasure of the Copper Scroll (1960), 64–68; Wolff, in: zdpv, 70 (1954), 76–81; Muilenburg, in: basor, 140 (1955), 11–19.

[Michael Avi-Yonah]