East

In the Bible, the East is often associated with invading armies and nomadic tribes.
PlaceOld Testament2 books6 verses

Summary

A location near Ammon first mentioned at Judges 6:3; only referred to as East (קֶ֫דֶם).

Location

Identified as
region around Rabbah 1
Certainty
Widely agreed (100% of scholarship)
Coordinates
31.955° N, 35.934° E
East
See it on the map of biblical places

Alternative names

Mentions

  1. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and other people of the east would come up and invade them,
  2. Then all the Midianites, Amalekites, and other people of the east gathered together, crossed over the Jordan, and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.
  3. Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and all the other people of the east had settled in the valley like a swarm of locusts, and their camels were as countless as the sand on the seashore.
  4. Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army of about fifteen thousand men—all that were left of the armies of the people of the east. A hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had already fallen.
  5. …therefore I will indeed give you as a possession to the people of the East. They will set up their camps and pitch their tents among you. They will eat your fruit and drink your milk.
  6. I will give it along with the Ammonites as a possession to the people of the East, so that the Ammonites will no longer be remembered among the nations.