Valley
The fuller book trail begins with Mountain and Shadow, whose established symbols meet in the valley’s boundary-passage.
Summary
The low and humbled passage between mountain-kingdoms: the Way of descent, service, and obedience even unto death by which one leaves one rule and ascends another. A valley lifted or filled pictures resurrection, exaltation, and the preparation of the Way into the Mountain of God.
Isaiah places Valley opposite $mountain and reverses their positions: the valley is lifted or filled while the mountain is made low (Isa 40:4; Luke 3:5). The definition retains that low and humbled position while also accounting for the passage between kingdoms, Christ’s descent and exaltation, and the resurrection of the dead in the valley.
Definitions
Symbolic Definition
The low and humbled passage between mountain-kingdoms: the Way of descent, service, and obedience even unto death by which one leaves one rule and ascends another. A valley lifted or filled pictures resurrection, exaltation, and the preparation of the Way into the Mountain of God.
Literal Biblical Definition
Low ground lying between or beneath surrounding heights, often receiving water and marking the border between territories.
Webster’s Definition
Webster’s 1913 entry for valley begins: “The space inclosed between ranges of hills or mountains; the strip of land at the bottom of the depressions intersecting a country, including usually the bed of a stream, with frequently broad alluvial plains on one or both sides of the stream.”
These definitions may agree, but they are independent evidence. A biblical passage may use the term literally, symbolically, or both at the same time; the literal properties remain part of the logic when Scripture uses the object as a symbol.
The Definition in Full
The low and humbled passage between $[mountain]-kingdoms: the $[Way] of descent, service, and obedience even unto death by which one leaves one rule and ascends another. A valley lifted or filled pictures resurrection, exaltation, and the preparation of the Way into the Mountain of God.
The physical structure establishes the movement. A traveler leaving one mountain must descend, cross the low boundary, and rise toward another. When mountains represent kingdoms, the valley becomes the passage between their claims. Scripture repeatedly places death, judgment, graves, dead bodies, and dry bones in that passage—then leads the living through it, raises the dead in it, or lifts the valley itself.
Valley does not itself mean Shadow of Death. Psalm 23 joins two symbols in one phrase. Valley supplies the low passage between Death’s mountain-kingdom and the Shepherd’s mountain-kingdom of life; Shadow of Death marks Death’s reach at the border being crossed. The Shepherd’s presence introduces the contrary covering—the shadow of Christ, under whom His people live—and leads the traveler through rather than leaving him in Death’s domain.
The valley’s own meaning is established by descent and lifting. Ezekiel 37 raises the dead house standing in the valley. Isaiah and Luke lift or fill the valley to prepare the Way. Christ takes the form of a servant, humbles Himself in obedience unto death, and is therefore highly exalted (Phil 2:5-9). The geography and the Way of Christ carry the same movement: down in service, even to death; then up into life and rule.
“And the Philistines stood on a $[mountain] on the one side, and Israel stood on a $[mountain] on the other side: and there was a valley between them.” — 1Sam 17:3
Dictionary Comparison
The locally preserved Project Gutenberg Webster source defines a valley as:
“The space inclosed between ranges of hills or mountains; the strip of land at the bottom of the depressions intersecting a country.”
The same entry immediately says that the word is “also used figuratively” and
gives “The valley of the shadow of death” (Ps 23:4) as its example. Project
Gutenberg identifies the source as public domain in the
USA. The complete source, Gutenberg
header, license, and credits are stored locally as
webster-1913.txt.gz
and pinned by its SHA-256 checksum.
The dictionary supplies the physical structure: enclosure, surrounding heights, low ground, and usually a channel of water. Scripture preserves those features, then adds movement. A traveler descends from one height, crosses the low boundary, and rises toward another. Once a $mountain is established as a kingdom or ruling authority, the valley becomes the passage between mountain-kingdoms and the place where their borders and claims meet.
This is broader than either “the law” or “a difficult season.” The law descends from God’s Mountain; it is not the Valley. Shadow of Death may cover a valley, as Psalm 23 says, but that does not make the two symbols aliases. Scripture uses the valley’s descent, boundary, crossing, and lifting to describe the low Way between one kingdom and another.
Corpus and Method
The occurrence register below covers every verse in the KJV that prints valley, valleys, vale, or dale: 164 verses containing 179 printed occurrences. The English forms represent 6 underlying words:
| Original word | Printed occurrences | Physical emphasis |
|---|---|---|
| H6010 emeq | 69 | A broad depression or lowland |
| H1516 gay | 60 | A narrow valley or gorge defined by lofty sides |
| H5158 nachal | 23 | A wadi, torrent-bed, brook, or the valley carrying it |
| H8219 shephelah | 13 | Lowland or foothill country |
| H1237 biqah | 13 | A split, broad plain, or valley between heights |
| G5327 pharanx | 1 | A ravine or valley |
The register is exhaustive for those printed English forms, not for every occurrence of the Hebrew words under other translations. H5158 is often rendered brook, river, or stream; H1237 and H8219 are often rendered plain or lowland. Those other renderings confirm the water-channel and governed-territory senses, but they are not silently added to the occurrence count.
The Boundary Between Mountain-Kingdoms
A valley is not merely low. It is low in relation to surrounding heights. Scripture repeatedly uses that relationship to mark borders.
| Passage | What the valley does |
|---|---|
| Deut 3:16 | The Arnon valley and river form a national border. |
| Josh 15:7-8 | Judah’s border runs from the Valley of Achor, beside Hinnom, and up to the mountain. |
| Josh 18:16 | Benjamin’s border descends from the end of the mountain into the valleys below it. |
| Josh 19:14 | A tribal border completes its circuit in the Valley of Jiphthahel. |
| 1Sam 13:18 | A military road follows a border overlooking the Valley of Zeboim. |
Joshua 18:16 is especially exact:
“And the border came down to the end of the $[mountain] that lieth before the valley of the son of Hinnom … and descended to the valley of Hinnom.”
Taken together, the valleys surrounding a mountain trace its lower border: they show where its rise and reach end, or where the slope of another mountain begins. The same geometry appears in the allotment passages. A valley helps define where one inheritance ends and another begins. Crossing it is therefore not merely traveling across low ground; it is passing between jurisdictions.
This also explains the relationship to $wings, with one necessary distinction: Valley is not an alias for Wings. The Hebrew word kanaph does not occur in these passages. Wings name the covenant edge or extent; the valley is the bounded ground beneath and around that edge. Valleys can therefore expose where a mountain’s wings extend, meet, or cease without becoming the wings themselves.
The cleanest narrative picture is the Valley of Elah. Israel occupies one mountain, the Philistines another, and the valley lies between them (1Sam 17:3). The opposing kingdoms send their representatives into the shared low ground, and the outcome there determines which people will serve the other (1Sam 17:8-9). The valley is the boundary where two mountain-kingdoms press their claims and where allegiance changes after one representative defeats the other.
Scripture then enlarges this geometry. The kingdoms of this world form the image struck by God’s Stone, while the Stone becomes a great Mountain and fills the earth (Dan 2:35, 44-45). Isaiah sees the Mountain of the LORD raised above the other mountains, with the nations ascending to it (Isa 2:2-3). Revelation announces the same transfer: “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ” (Rev 11:15). The valley supplies the image for the low boundary crossed in passing from the present mountain-kingdoms into the Mountain of God.
The Governed Ground
The valley can also lie wholly beneath one ruling height. The Syrians argued that Israel’s God was “God of the hills” but not “God of the valleys” (1Ki 20:28). Their error was jurisdictional: they supposed His authority ended when the army left the heights. God defeated them in the plain to demonstrate that His government reached the lowland too.
Ezekiel addresses “the mountains … the hills … the rivers … and the valleys” together as the land of Israel (Ezek 36:4, 6). The list descends from ruling heights through channels to the inhabited low ground. Isaiah places the “crown of pride” on the head of Ephraim’s fertile valley (Isa 28:1, 4): the elevated ruler sits over the productive territory below.
This relation explains why “the low and humbled” is a valid observation but an incomplete definition. A valley occupies the lower position under a mountain, yet Scripture’s larger pattern is not static subjection. It is descent, crossing, and ascent: movement from one mountain’s rule toward another.
The Low Way of Christ
The shape of the Valley becomes personal in Christ. Paul traces His Way in the same direction: He takes “the form of a servant,” humbles Himself, and becomes “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Then the direction reverses: “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him” (Phil 2:5-9).
Jesus gives the same Way to His disciples. The rulers of the nations exercise authority from above, but “whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant,” because the Son of man came to serve and give His life (Matt 20:25-28; Mark 10:42-45). The Valley is therefore not humiliation for its own sake. It is willing descent from the world’s contest for height, service even unto death, and exaltation by God rather than self-exaltation.
This gives “every valley shall be exalted” a precise moral shape without reducing Valley to a personality trait. The low Way Christ walked is the Way God raises. The mountain that exalts itself is brought low; the servant who descends is lifted.
What Descends Is Received Below
Low ground receives what comes from above. That fact unifies the valley’s fruitful and destructive scenes.
“The land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh $[water] of the rain of heaven.” — Deut 11:11
“He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills.” — Ps 104:10
Joel gathers the whole structure into one picture after the nations have been judged in the valley:
“The $[mountains] shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk … and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.” — Joel 3:18
The valleys consequently become gardens by the river (Num 24:6), are covered with corn and sing (Ps 65:13), receive fountains (Isa 41:18), and give rest to the flock (Isa 63:14; 65:10). The valley is fruitful when it receives life from above.
This is where the proposed identification with law breaks down. Scripture says that the law and the Word go out of the Mountain of the LORD (Isa 2:2-3). The law is what the ruling height issues; the valley is the governed ground that receives what comes down. Confusing them collapses authority, instruction, and subject territory into one object.
Where Rival Claims Are Decided
Flat, bounded lowland gathers people. It therefore becomes the recurring arena of battle, judgment, harvest, and decision.
| Valley | Competing claims tested there |
|---|---|
| Siddim | Kings join battle; the defeated fall into its pits (Gen 14:3, 8, 10). |
| Elah | Israel and Philistia submit their claims to representative champions (1Sam 17:2-9). |
| Jezreel | Midian’s multitude gathers below Gideon; Israel’s bow is later broken there (Judg 6:33; 7:1, 8, 12; Hos 1:5). |
| Rephaim | Philistine occupation is broken under David (2Sam 5:18-25). |
| Berachah | Judah finds the enemy already judged and names the valley “Blessing” (2Chr 20:26). |
| Jehoshaphat / Decision | The nations are brought down and God sits to judge them (Joel 3:2, 12, 14). |
Joel does not merely place judgment in an arbitrary depression:
“I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel.” — Joel 3:2
The nations descend from their rival heights into one bounded court. God sits as Judge over “all the heathen round about” (Joel 3:12). The valley is where competing mountains lose the ability to judge themselves and answer to the Mountain above them all.
When Valley and Shadow of Death Combine
Psalm 23 does not define Valley as Shadow of Death. It combines them. Valley is the low Way between heights; Shadow of Death is the covering cast by the rule and end of Death—the world’s sinful course toward the pit or grave. The full phrase places the humbled traveler on the low Way while still beneath that hostile shadow:
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.” — Ps 23:4
The Shepherd does not abandon the flock in the valley. His presence brings a contrary shadow into the same scene: the shadow of the Anointed under which His people live (Lam 4:20). He leads them through Death’s covering, and the psalm ends in the house of the LORD (Ps 23:6). Valley supplies the passage; Shadow of Death names the dominion crossed; the Shepherd determines the destination.
The dead house rises in the valley
Ezekiel is set in a broad valley full of dry bones (Ezek 37:1-2). God identifies the bones as “the whole house of Israel” (Ezek 37:11). The dead hear the Word, receive breath or Spirit, stand upon their feet, and return to their inheritance (Ezek 37:4-14). This is not merely a valley that happens to contain death. It enacts the whole passage: a dead covenant house lies at the low boundary, receives life from above, rises, and is brought into its land.
Lifting the valley pictures resurrection
Isaiah first commands a Way to be prepared for the LORD, then says “every valley shall be exalted” (Isa 40:3-4). Luke renders the same promise, “Every valley shall be filled” (Luke 3:4-5). Read alone, that is a reversal of landscape. Read beside Ezekiel’s valley of the dead, it becomes a remarkably plain resurrection pattern: the low place containing the dead is raised or filled so that the Way into God’s kingdom is opened.
The other half of the reversal confirms the kingdom movement. Mountains and hills are made low while the valley is raised (Isa 40:4). The kingdoms of this world do not remain the permanent heights; God’s Mountain becomes the ruling height (Dan 2:35, 44-45). Raising the valley is therefore not merely honoring socially humble people. It completes the servant-shaped movement: those who descend in God’s Way are raised toward the Mountain they are being called to ascend.
The opened valley becomes the way through
Zechariah 14:4-5 turns the same structure into an escape. The Mount of Olives splits, “a very great valley” opens, and the people flee through it as the LORD comes. The valley is both boundary and route. It marks the rupture of the old order, yet it also becomes the opened Way by which the people pass through the crisis rather than perish within it.
The combined passage ends in life
The restored valleys complete the passage without making Valley an alias of Shadow of Death. The Valley of Achor moves from judgment and trouble to “a door of hope” and a place of rest (Josh 7:24-26; Hos 2:15; Isa 65:10). Hinnom moves from slaughter, dead bodies, and ashes to ground called holy to the LORD (Jer 7:31-32; 31:40). Dry ground receives water from above; barren valleys bear corn and sing (Deut 11:11; Ps 65:13; Isa 41:18). The image is not death victorious. It is death crossed, the dead raised, and the low boundary filled with life from above.
Competing Definitions Tested
| Proposed meaning | What it explains | What it fails to explain |
|---|---|---|
| The law | Law descends from God’s Mountain and governs those below. | Valleys mark borders, contain rival armies, receive water, hold the dead, and become routes of escape. The law comes from the Mountain; it is not the Valley. |
| A difficult season | The danger and fear of Ps 23:4. | Kingdom borders, the dead house in Ezek 37, resurrection, and the valley’s lifting. It reduces the symbol to a modern pastoral application. |
| The low and humbled | The mountain/valley reversal in Isa 40:4 and Luke 3:5. | Territorial borders, passage between kingdoms, the dead raised in Ezek 37, and the Way opened in Zech 14. It notices position but misses movement. |
| Shadow of Death | The joined phrase in Ps 23:4 and the valleys containing graves, slaughter, or dry bones. | Shadow of Death has uses without a valley, and valleys have fruitful, territorial, and jurisdictional uses without that phrase. The symbols combine but are not aliases. |
| The low and humbled Way between mountain-kingdoms | Borders, descent and ascent, service, rival claims, resurrection, the opened Way, and transfer into God’s Mountain. | It does not make every literal valley a prophecy; context must activate the symbolic movement. |
The definition preserves the literal geography while explaining why humility, service, death, and resurrection repeatedly occupy it. Valley is the low passage; Shadow of Death is one covering under which that passage may be crossed. Psalm 23 needs both symbols, and neither should swallow the other.
Relationship to Other Symbols
- $mountain — the reciprocal opposite: a kingdom’s ruling height. The valley is the low boundary crossed between mountain-kingdoms, ultimately between the kingdoms of this world and the Mountain of God.
- $shadow — a covering takes its character from the body or power casting it. Christ’s shadow shelters unto life; Death’s shadow covers the world’s way toward the grave.
- Shadow of Death — a separate symbol joined to Valley in Ps 23:4. Valley supplies the low passage; Shadow of Death supplies the hostile dominion through which the Shepherd leads.
- $wings — the covenant edge. Valleys often trace territorial borders, but no valley passage uses kanaph; the relationship is structural, not an alias.
- $water — what naturally descends and gathers in the valley, bringing the character of its source into the governed ground.
- Field — the world as cultivated people. A fertile valley is a bounded and governed field, while Field itself is not limited to low ground.
- $way — the valley is lifted, filled, or opened so the Way through death and into God’s kingdom is prepared.
- Judgment — rival claims are gathered and decided in the valley, especially in Joel 3.
Exhaustive KJV Occurrence Register
The defining and most consequential uses appear in the sections above. The following register supplies every KJV verse that prints valley, valleys, vale, or dale, including ordinary geographic uses that constrain the symbol without independently defining it.
Genesis: 14:3, 14:8, 14:10, 14:17, 26:17, 26:19, 37:14
Numbers: 14:25, 21:12, 21:20, 24:6, 32:9
Deuteronomy: 1:7, 1:24, 3:16, 3:29, 4:46, 8:7, 11:11, 21:4, 21:6, 34:3, 34:6
Joshua: 7:24, 7:26, 8:11, 8:13, 9:1, 10:12, 10:40, 11:2, 11:8, 11:16, 11:17, 12:7, 12:8, 13:19, 13:27, 15:7, 15:8, 15:33, 17:16, 18:16, 18:21, 19:14, 19:27
Judges: 1:9, 1:19, 1:34, 5:15, 6:33, 7:1, 7:8, 7:12, 16:4, 18:28
1 Samuel: 6:13, 13:18, 15:5, 17:2, 17:3, 17:19, 17:52, 21:9, 31:7
2 Samuel: 5:18, 5:22, 8:13, 18:18, 23:13
1 Kings: 10:27, 20:28
2 Kings: 2:16, 3:16, 3:17, 14:7, 23:10
1 Chronicles: 4:14, 4:39, 10:7, 11:15, 12:15, 14:9, 14:13, 18:12, 27:29
2 Chronicles: 1:15, 14:10, 20:26, 25:11, 26:9, 28:3, 33:6, 33:14, 35:22
Nehemiah: 2:13, 2:15, 3:13, 11:30, 11:35
Job: 21:33, 30:6, 39:10, 39:21
Psalms: 23:4, 60:1, 60:6, 65:13, 84:6, 104:8, 104:10, 108:7
Proverbs: 30:17
Song of Solomon: 2:1, 6:11
Isaiah: 7:19, 17:5, 22:1, 22:5, 22:7, 28:1, 28:4, 28:21, 40:4, 41:18, 57:5, 63:14, 65:10
Jeremiah: 2:23, 7:31, 7:32, 19:2, 19:6, 21:13, 31:40, 32:35, 32:44, 33:13, 47:5, 48:8, 49:4
Ezekiel: 6:3, 7:16, 31:12, 32:5, 35:8, 36:4, 36:6, 37:1, 37:2, 39:11, 39:15
Hosea: 1:5, 2:15
Joel: 3:2, 3:12, 3:14, 3:18
Micah: 1:4, 1:6
Zechariah: 12:11, 14:4, 14:5
Luke: 3:5
Conclusion
The glossary definition is:
The low and humbled passage between $[mountain]-kingdoms: the $[Way] of descent, service, and obedience even unto death by which one leaves one rule and ascends another. A valley lifted or filled pictures resurrection, exaltation, and the preparation of the Way into the Mountain of God.
The definition retains the low position and border insight, but restores the movement those facts establish: descent from one height, humble service even unto death, and ascent toward God’s Mountain. It keeps Valley distinct from both $wings and Shadow of Death: the valley is the low passage, the wing is the covenant edge that bounds a kingdom, and the shadow names the power covering the traveler.