POPLARS, TORRENT VALLEY OF

At Isaiah 15:7 the prophet describes the escaping Moabites as fleeing with their goods across the “torrent valley of the poplars.” If their flight was to the S, as it seems likely to have been, this torrent valley would appear to refer to the “torrent valley of Zered” (Num. 21:12; Deut. 2:13), which acted as the frontier boundary between Moab and Edom to the S. The torrent valley of Zered is generally identified with the Wadi el-Hesa, which flows into the S end of the Dead Sea. In its lower course it is called the Seil el-Qurahi and as such passes through a small plain that is somewhat swampy in places and could thus be a suitable place for poplars to have grown.—See ZERED, TORRENT VALLEY OF.