LOWLAND

lo'-land (shephelah; compare Arabic sufalat, "the lowest part"): The western part of Palestine, including the maritime plain and the foothills. There has been an attempt to restrict the term to the foothills, at least as far as the more ancient documents are concerned, but there can be little doubt that the maritime plain should be included. the Revised Version (British and American) has "lowland" throughout for shephelah, while the King James Version has "low country" (2 Chronicles 26:10; 28:18), "low plains" (1 Chronicles 27:28; 2 Chronicles 9:27), "plain" (Jeremiah 17:26; Obadiah 1:19; Zechariah 7:7), "vale" or "valley" (Deuteronomy 1:7; Joshua 9:1; 10:40).

See COUNTRY ; SHEPHELAH .

Alfred Ely Day

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.