Achor
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Josh. 7:24) — the valley of trouble, near Jericho, on the northern border of the tribe of Judah, where Achan was stoned for violating the ban at the taking of Jericho. This place is depicted with great poetic force by the prophet Hosea: “And I will give her… the valley of Achor for a door of hope,” says the Lord, “and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt” (Hos. 2:15). The figurative use of the word “Achor” in this passage is explained in various ways.
The most common explanation is as follows: just as the valley of Achor was a place of sorrow and trouble for the Israelites at their first entrance into the land of Canaan, so it would become a place of hope and joy at their return from the captivity in which they then found themselves. This may be confirmed by the prophecy of Isaiah (65:10).