Kedron

Kedron (a variant spelling of Kidron) was the valley running between the eastern wall of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, mentioned in John 18:1 as the brook which Jesus crossed with his disciples on the way to Gethsemane. The name means turbid or dark, reflecting the seasonal stream's character—dry in summer but flowing dark and murky after winter rains. In the Fourth Gospel, John uses the Cedron/Kedron spelling, which may reflect the Greek form of the Hebrew Kidron.

The crossing of this valley in the final night of Jesus's life was laden with symbolic resonance: David had crossed the Kidron weeping during Absalom's rebellion (2 Samuel 15:23), and the valley had served as the eastern boundary of Jerusalem's sacred precincts, beyond which idolatrous objects were thrown and burned by reforming kings. Jesus's crossing of Kedron to the garden where Judas knew to find him echoed David's flight while also moving toward the fulfillment of what David's psalms had foreshadowed regarding betrayal and suffering.