page_title: Jordan Valley
section_title: Religious significance
hierarchical_section_title: Jordan Valley / Religious significance
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Impressionen Wikimania 2011 Nazareth-Galilee Tour English: Impressions Wikimania 2011 Nazareth-Galilee Tour Italiano: Immagini di Wikimania 2011 Nazareth-Galilee Tour
context_page_description: The Jordan Valley forms part of the larger Jordan Rift Valley. Unlike most other river valleys, the term "Jordan Valley" often applies just to the lower course of the Jordan River, from the spot where it exits the Sea of Galilee in the north, to the end of its course where it flows into the Dead Sea in the south. In a wider sense, the term may also cover the Dead Sea basin and the Arabah valley, which is the rift valley segment beyond the Dead Sea and ending at Aqaba/Eilat, 155 km farther south.
  The valley, in the common, narrow sense, is a long and narrow trough, 105 km long if measured "as the crow flies", with a width averaging 10 km with some points narrowing to 4 km over most of the course, before widening out to a 20 km delta when reaching the Dead Sea. Due to meandering, the length of the river itself is 220 km. This is the valley with the lowest elevation in the world, beginning at −212 m below sea level and terminating at less than −400 m BSL. On both sides, to the east and west, the valley is bordered by high, steep escarpments rising from the valley floor by between 1,200 m to 1,700 m.
context_section_description: The area's fertile lands were chronicled in the Hebrew Bible, where it was the site of several miracles for the people of Israel, such as the Jordan River stopping its flow to allow the Israelites, led by Joshua, to cross its riverbed at Gilgal, which went dry as soon as the Ark of the Covenant reached the shore (Joshua 3).
  Yom HaAliyah (Aliyah Day, Hebrew: יום העלייה‎) is an Israeli national holiday celebrated annually on the tenth of the Hebrew month of Nisan to commemorate the Israelites crossing the Jordan River into the Land of Israel while carrying the Ark of the Covenant.
  The Jordan River is revered by Christians as the place where John the Baptist baptized Jesus.
caption: Yardenit baptism site on the Jordan River
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D50", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "DXO Optics Pro v6", "Image DateTime": "2011:08:08 11:38:42", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image Copyright": "raboe001@web.de", "Image ExifOffset": "11626", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "12402", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8818", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/320", "EXIF FNumber": "9", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:08:07 14:03:14", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:08:07 14:03:14", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1040241/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "126797/20000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "4", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "149/25", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "30", "EXIF SubSecTime": "70", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "70", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "70", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1111", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "739", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 2, 1, 1, 0]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "45", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "12278"}