Abarim

Abarim (Hebrew: הָרֵי הָעֲבָרִים, "Har Ha-'Abarim, Harei Ha-'Abarim"; Septuagint "to oros to Abarim, en to peran tou Iordanou", mountain Abarim, mountains of Abarim) is a mountain range across Jordan, to the east and south-east of the Dead Sea, extending from Mount Nebo in the north, perhaps to the Arabian desert in the south. The Vulgate (Deuteronomy 32:49) gives its etymological meaning as "passages". Its northern part was called Phasga (or Pisgah), and the highest peak of Phasga was Mount Nebo (Numbers 23:14; 27:12; 21:20; 32:47; Deuteronomy 3:27; 34:1; 32:49). From "the top of Pisgah," "i.e.", Mount Nebo, an area which belonged to Moab, Moses surveyed the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 3:27; 32:49), and there he died (34:1,5). Balaam blessed Israel the second time from the top of Mount Phasga (Numbers 23:14); and here Jeremias hid the ark (II Maccabees 2:4-5). The Israelites had one of their encampments in the mountains of Abarim (Num. 33:47,48) after crossing the Arnon. Jeremiah couples it with Bashan and Lebanon as locations from which the people cry in vain to God for rescue (Jeremiah 22:20).