The Ascent of Ziz was a pass where Jehoshaphat defeated the armies of Moab and Ammon .
The Ascent of Ziz is mentioned in the Bible as the location where King Jehoshaphat of Judah faced the invading armies of Moab, Ammon, and Mount Seir (2Ch.20.16). As Jehoshaphat and his people sought the Lord and praised Him, the Lord set ambushes against the invading armies, causing them to destroy one another (2Ch.20.22-23). The Ascent of Ziz was likely a pass or route leading up from the Dead Sea region towards Tekoa and the hill country of Judah. Its exact location is uncertain.
Approximate location: 31.573, 35.406 · view on a map · on the Bible atlas
Projecting; a flower, a cleft or pass, probably that near En-gedi, which leads up from the Dead Sea (2 Chr. 20:16) in the direction of Tekoa; now Tell Hasasah.
(the projection), The cliff of, the pass by which the horde of Moabites, Ammonites and Mehunim made their way up from the shores of the Dead Sea to the wilderness of Judah near Tekoa. (2 Chronicles 20:16) only; comp. 2Chr 20:20 It was the pass of Ain Jidy—the very same route which is taken by the Arabs in their marauding expeditions at the present day.
flower; branch; a lock of hair
ZIZ, THE CLIFF OF. 2 Chr 20:16. The paraphrase of this passage is "the going up of Ha-Ziz," and Grove suggests the name may survive
in Husasah. The Pal. Memoirs note a Wady Husasah, 8 miles north of Ain Jidy (En-gedi). The similarity of the name is striking, but the site seems too far from En-gedi. Others have identified Ziz with the pass and cliff near En-gedi, a route how taken by Arab marauding-parties. This pass was the ascent through which invaders from the south and east, after doubling the south end of the Dead Sea, entered the hill-country of Judaea. Ziz was the key of the pass.
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
1 verse in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H6732
Tomorrow you are to march down against them. You will see them coming up the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the valley facing the Wilderness of Jeruel.
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.