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Research dossier · Places & Architecture

Abarim

mountain range in Jordan

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 9, 2026
Entity authorityQ337141 ↗
Source-derived summary

Abarim (Hebrew: הָעֲבָרִים, romanized: Hā-Avārīm) is the Hebrew name used in the Bible for a mountain range "across the Jordan", understood as east of the Jordan Rift Valley, i.e. in Transjordan, to the east and south-east of the Dead Sea, extending from Mount Nebo — its highest point — in the north, perhaps to the Arabian desert in the south.

Etymology and description

According to Cheyne and Black, its Hebrew meaning is "'Those-on-the-other-side'—i.e., of the Jordan." The Vulgate (Deuteronomy 32:49) gives its etymological meaning as passages. Its northern part was called Pisgah, and the highest peak of Pisgah was Mount Nebo (Numbers 23:14; 27:12; 21:20; 32:47; Deuteronomy 3:27; 34:1; 32:49).

These mountains are mentioned several times in the Bible:

Balaam blessed Israel the second time from the top of Mount Pisgah (Numbers 23:14)

From "the top of Pisgah" i.e. Mount Nebo, an area which belonged to Moab, Moses surveyed the Promised Land (Numbers 27:12 and Deuteronomy 3:27; 32:49), and there he died (34:1,5)

The Israelites had one of their encampments in the mountains of Abarim (Numbers 33:47,48) after crossing the Arnon

The prophet Jeremiah linked it with Bashan and Lebanon as locations from which the people cried in vain to God for rescue (Jeremiah 22:20)

Jeremiah hid the Ark of the Covenant there (II Maccabees 2:4-5). (The book of 2 Maccabees is included in Bibles used by Roman Catholics, but generally not in Protestant or Jewish Bibles.)

See also

Jordanian Highlands, the region that includes this mountain range.

Biblical names for geographical features possibly part of "Abarim"

Mount Seir, the ancient name for the mountainous region between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba; modern Jibāl ash-Sharāh

Modern names for geographical features possibly synonymous or contained in "Abarim"

Al-Sharat or Ash-Sharāh, a highland region in modern-day southern Jordan and northwestern Saudi Arabia

Jibāl ash-Sharāh (see Mount Seir), with Petra, Jebe Harun/Mount Aaron, etc.

Jebel Proywe, Jordanian mountain north of Little Petra

Petra (ancient Reqem/Reqmu/Rakmu) in Seir

Jebel Harun, or southern Mount Hor near Petra, with the alleged tomb of Aaron

Related geographical features

Midian Mountains, Saudi Arabian mountains to the south

References

Sources

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Maas, Anthony (1913). "Abarim".

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Abarim” as mountain range in Jordan. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA valuable geographic starting point for tracing changing names, boundaries, uses and administrative responsibility. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1913—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Abarim, mountain and range can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as mountain range in Jordan. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q337141. Authority coordinates are 31.754, 35.715. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1913.

Critical limits

Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Abarim”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Abarim primary sources, Abarim archive and Abarim research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Abarim”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Abarim” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.