Mount of the Amorites

The Mount of the Amorites was the elevated rocky range that formed the southern edge of the Promised Land as approached from the Sinai wilderness, described in Moses' retrospective address as the highlands encountered after crossing "that great and terrible wilderness" (Deut. 1:19–20). Moses directed Israel to go up and take possession of the hill country, but the people refused after the discouraging report of the spies, precipitating forty years of wandering (Deut. 1:26–33). The region corresponds to the high limestone plateau of the Negev highlands, the southern Judean hills, and possibly the region later associated with the Amorite kingdoms. The Amorites were one of the pre-Israelite peoples of Canaan who inhabited both the hill country and the Transjordanian plateau, and their name was sometimes used broadly to denote all the inhabitants of Canaan (Gen. 15:16).