Horonaim

Horonaim (two caverns) was a city of Moab located in the southern part of the Moabite plateau, south of the Arnon River. Isaiah 15:5 and Jeremiah 48:3, 5, 34 mention Horonaim in prophecies of judgment against Moab, where the fugitives of Moab are described as crying out at its descent—suggesting the city sat at the top of a steep descending pass, with the sound of wailing echoing from its cliffs. It was a place of some size and strategic importance in the southern Moabite territory.

The Moabite Stone (Mesha Stele, ninth century BC) also mentions Horonaim in the context of Mesha's military operations against Israel, providing extrabiblical confirmation of the site's importance in Moabite territory. The Isaiah and Jeremiah oracles against Moab paint a picture of the city's destruction: its fugitives descend the way of Luhith weeping, and the sound of destruction echoes from Horonaim. The city's location in southern Moab below the main plateau may account for the reference to its descent; it would have been accessible via one of the steep wadis cutting through the plateau's eastern escarpment.