Rephaim, Valley of

The Valley of Rephaim (also called the Plain of Rephaim) was a broad, fertile valley southwest of Jerusalem, lying between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. It appears in the tribal boundary descriptions of both Judah (Joshua 15:8) and Benjamin (Joshua 18:16) and was evidently a prominent geographic feature of the region. The Philistines twice deployed forces in the Valley of Rephaim to attack David after he became king at Hebron, and David twice defeated them — the second time with the notable strategic device of circling and attacking from the rear at God's direction (2 Samuel 5:17–25; 1 Chronicles 14:8–17). Isaiah 17:5 invokes the valley's grain harvest as a simile for judgment.