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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadInternational Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Champaign
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sham-paÌ„n´, sham´paÌ„n (ערבה, ‛ăraÌ„bhaÌ„h, בּקעה, biḳ‛aÌ„h): A champaign is a flat open country, and the word occurs in the King James Version (the Revised Version (British and American) “the Arabahâ€) as a translation of ‛ăraÌ„bhaÌ„h, for which the King James Version has in most places “the plain,†and the Revised Version (British and American) “the Arabah,†when it is used with the article and denotes a definite region, i.e. the valley of the Jordan from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea (; ; :9; ; ; ; , , ; ; ; ; ; ; ), and also the valley running southward from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Akabah (). has for haÌ„-‛ăraÌ„bhaÌ„h “the desert,†the King James Version marginâ€plain,†the Revised Version (British and American) “the Arabah.†The plural is used in ; , “the plains of Jericho,†and in and , “the plains of Moab.†Elsewhere ‛ăraÌ„bhaÌ„h is rendered in English Versions of the Bible “desert†or “wilderness†(; ; ; , ; ; ; ; ; ; ). At the present day, the Jordan va lley is called the Ghaur (compare Hebrew ‛uÌ„r, “to dig,†me‛aÌ„raÌ„h, “cave,†and Arabic maghaÌ„rah, “caveâ€). This name is also applied to the deltas of streams flowing into the Dead Sea from the East, which are clothed with thickets of thorny trees and shrubs, i.e. Ghaur-ul-Mezra‛ah, at the mouths of WaÌ„di-Kerak and WaÌ„di-Beni-HÌ£ammaÌ„d, Ghaur-usÌ£-SÌ£aÌ„fiyeh, at the mouth of WaÌ„di-ul-HÌ£isa. The name “Arabah†(Arabic al-‛Arabah) is now confined to the valley running southward from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Akabah, separating the mountains of Edom from Sinai and the plateau of at-Tı̄h. See ARABAH.
the King James Version margin has “champaign†for biḳ‛aÌ„h, which is elsewhere rendered “vale†or “valley.†Biḳ‛aÌ„h seems to be applied to wide, open valleys, as: “the valley of Jericho†(), “the valley of Megiddo†(; ), “the valley of Lebanon†(). If Baal-Gad be Ba‛albekÌ£ and “the valley of Lebanon†be Coele-syria, the present name of Coele-syria, al-BikÌ£ā‛ (plural of buḳ‛ah, “a low, wet place or meadowâ€), may be regarded as a survival of the Hebre w biḳ‛aÌ„hÌŒ.