עֲרָבָה

“Desert plain” in Hebrew is Arabah (עֲרָבָה), pronounced “a-ra-VAH.” Arabah comes from the root ע-ר-ב (ayin-resh-bet), meaning 'to be arid, dry, desolate.' The same root gives us 'erev' (evening, when the land cools and dries). The Arabah region south of the Dead Sea is Israel's driest landscape.

Arabah (עֲרָבָה) means “Desert plain, arid steppe, wilderness valley” in Biblical Hebrew. Arabah appears 61 times in the Hebrew Bible. It describes the specific geographic region of the Jordan Rift Valley (Deuteronomy 1:1, 2:8), any arid steppe or dry plain (Job 24:5, Isaiah 35:1), and the prophetic vision of desert transformation (Isaiah 35:1-2, 40:3).

Arabah is pronounced “a-ra-VAH.” The word comes from the Hebrew root ע-ר-ב.

The Arabah (Arava) is the section of the Great Rift Valley extending from the Dead Sea southward to the Gulf of Aqaba/Eilat — approximately 180 km of some of the driest, most inhospitable terrain on earth. Average rainfall is less than 50mm annually. Yet this is where Isaiah prophesied the desert would bloom — and modern Israeli agriculture has fulfilled this vision.

Israel's Arava region now produces over 60% of the country's fresh vegetable exports, using innovative drip irrigation and desert farming techniques. Tomatoes, peppers, melons, and flowers grow in greenhouses surrounded by barren desert. The literal fulfillment of 'the desert shall blossom' (Isaiah 35:1) is visible to anyone who visits the region.

Isaiah 35 uses the blooming arabah as a metaphor for God's redemptive power. When God acts, the most hopeless situations burst with life. 'The eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped, the lame shall leap like a deer' (35:5-6). The arabah bloom represents God's specialty: bringing life where there should be none.