Plain
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Deut. 1:1; 2:8). Palestine is mountainous and therefore contains relatively few broad plains. The most notable are: (1) the Plain of Jezreel, or Esdraelon; (2) the coastal plain along the Mediterranean from Carmel to the Brook of Egypt; (3) the Jordan plain on both sides of the river; (4) the plain of Judah around Jericho, also called the Plain of Jericho; (5) the plain east of the Jordan, known in the source’s day as Belka, celebrated for rich meadows and pastureland, whose fertility became proverbial (Isa. 16:9–10); and (6) the great fertile rolling plain of Hauran, which formed the ancient kingdom of Bashan and whose chief city was Bostra.