Definition

a desert; especially (with the article prefix) the (generally) sterile valley of the Jordan and its continuation to the Red Sea

Etymology

from H6150 (עָרַב) (in the sense of sterility);

Where the KJV renders it

• Arabah
• champaign
• desert
• evening
• heaven
• plain
• wilderness. See also H1026 (בֵּית הָעֲרָבָה)

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Hebrew term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.