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JABBOK
Eastern tributary of the Jordan, the modern Nahr ez-Zerqa or Blue River. Its source is a spring near Amman, capital of modern Jordan (the Decapolis town of Philadelphia in Hellenistic times). From its source the Jabbok loops northeast before swinging west and cutting a valley that, characteristic of the east Jordan tributary streams, deepens into a canyon. It emerges from this ravine near Tell Deir Alla, which may be the ancient Succoth, quiets its flow, and joins the Jordan at ed-Damiyeh, the ancient Adam, some 15 miles (24 kilometers) north of the Dead Sea. The Jabbok ranks next to the Yarmuk, its more northerly companion stream, in the extent of its watershed, a region of well-watered territory blessed with an average rainfall of some 30 inches (76 centimeters) per year. The Jabbok has a fast, strong, perennial flow; over a large portion of its 60-mile (96.5-kilometer) course, the stream averages an 80-foot (24.4-meter) drop over each mile. The loop of the river north of Amman (biblical Rabbah) was an Ammonite frontier (Nm 21:24). The river separated the kingdoms of Sihon and Og (Jgs 11:19-22; cf. Dt 3:1-2, 8-10), land in Gilead that was later divided among the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (Dt 3:12, 16; Jos 12:2-6).
See also Jordan River.