Sela

Sela (Hebrew for "rock" or "cliff") was the principal stronghold of Edom (2 Kgs. 14:7), a city perched in the Edomite mountains whose site is widely identified with or near the later city of Petra in modern Jordan. King Amaziah of Judah captured it and renamed it Joktheel (2 Kgs. 14:7). Isaiah 16:1 calls upon Moab to send a lamb "from Sela of the wilderness to the mount of the daughter of Zion," and Isaiah 42:11 calls upon the inhabitants of Sela to sing. The topographical features of the location — sheer cliffs, narrow gorges, near-impregnable natural defenses — made it a byword for security, yet also made the pride of its inhabitants a target for prophetic judgment.