{{Short description|Location mentioned in the Book of Zechariah}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2016}} {{multiple issues| {{original research|date=November 2011}} {{synthesis|date=November 2011}} }} [[File:SilwanDec102022 07.jpg|thumb|Wad Yatsul in Silwan]] thumb|Wad Yatsul from above [[File:נחל אצל2.jpg|thumb|right|Azal/Azel Valley descending to the Kidron Valley south of Abu Tor]]
'''Azal''' (אצל), or '''Azel''', is a location mentioned in the Book of Zechariah 14:5, in Bibles that use the Hebrew Masoretic Text as the source for this verse. In Bibles that follow the Greek Septuagint (LXX) rendering, depending upon the source manuscript used, ''Azal'' is transcribed ''Jasol'' (ιασολ, pronounced "Yasol"), ''Jasod'' (a corruption of ''Jasol''), or ''Asael'' (ασαηλ):
{{blockquote|''And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto ''Azal'': yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah.''|source={{Bibleverse||Zechariah|14:5|KJV}} King James Version}}
{{blockquote|''The valley between the hills will be filled in, yes, it will be blocked as far as ''Jasol'', it will be filled in as it was by the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah'',|source={{cite web|url=http://www.catholic.org/bible/book.php?id=45&bible_chapter=14|title=Zechariah 14:5|publisher=New Jerusalem Bible|access-date=March 13, 2016}}}}
==Theories on location== No written work prior to the late 19th-century definitively identifies what, or where, Azal is or was. Most Bible commentators of the late 19th century considered it to be a place near Jerusalem. Cyril of Alexandria wrote in his commentary on the Book of Zechariah, Chapter 14. that Azal was known to be “a town situated at the far point of the mountain".<ref>{{cite book |first= Cyril |last= Alexandria |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=lG_NF6CrjtcC&pg=PA260 |editor-last= Hill |editor-first= Robert C. |title= Commentary on the Twelve Prophets, Volume 3 |at= pp. 259-60 |date= 2012 |isbn= 9780813201245}}</ref>
In 1850, geographer {{ill|Rabbi Joseph Schwarz|he|יהוסף שוורץ}}<ref name=Schwarz>{{Cite report|last=Schwarz|first=Joseph|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13342-schwarz-joseph|title=SCHWARZ, JOSEPH |date =1890|work =Jewish Encyclopedia|access-date=March 8, 2016}}</ref> claimed that Azal was modern Azaria, situated {{convert|0.5|mi|km|0|order=flip}} southeast of the southernmost peak of the Mount of Olives (then called Mount Corruption).<ref name=Palestine>{{Cite report|last=Schwarz|first=Joseph|url=http://www.jewish-history.com/palestine/moriah.html|title=Descriptive Geography and Brief Historical Sketch of Palestine |date =1850|work =Jewishhistory.com|access-date=March 8, 2016}}</ref>
French Orientalist and archaeologist Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau, who identified the site of the ancient Canaanite city of Gezer and preserved the Mesha Stele inscription,<ref name=Gezer>{{Cite report|last=Pelgrift|first=Henry|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/article/853/|title=The History of Excavations at Tel Gezer |date =January 12, 2016|work=World History Encyclopedia|access-date=March 12, 2016}}</ref> claimed that Schwarz was referring to al-Eizariya, the traditional Bethany of New Testament times. However, al-Eizariya lies several kilometers due east of the Mount of Olives, not {{convert|0.5|mi|km|0|order=flip}} southeast of it, as Schwarz claimed.<ref>{{cite book |last=Clermont-Ganneau |first=Charles |date=1896 |title=Archaeological researches in Palestine during the years 1873–1874 |url=https://archive.org/details/archaeologicalre02cler |location=Internet Archive |publisher=Palestine Exploration Fund |page=[https://archive.org/details/archaeologicalre02cler/page/251 251]-255; 275}}</ref>
Between 1873 and 1874, Clermont-Ganneau explored many tombs in a valley immediately south of Jerusalem, which the peasants of Silwan called {{transliteration|ar|Wady Yasul}}. Based on geographic and linguistic evidence, Clermont-Ganneau proposed that Wady Yasul is Azal.<ref>Charles Clermont-Ganneau, ''Archaeological Researches in Palestine'', Vol. 1. pg. 420, 1899; Charles Clermont-Ganneau, Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement, April 1874, pg. 102</ref> Currently, this valley is bordered on the west by the Jerusalem Peace Forest and the neighborhood of Talpiot, on the north by the Abu Tor neighborhood on the southern slope of the Hill of Evil Council, and on the south by the neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber on the ridge where the former UN headquarters sits. The mouth of the valley lies at the base of the southernmost summit of the Mount of Olives (Mount of Corruption).{{citation needed|date=July 2021}} Its Hebrew name is {{transliteration|he|Nahal Atzal}} ({{lang|he|נחל אצל}}).{{citation needed|date=July 2021}}{{dubious|If this refers to the modern name, it has no bearing on the identification dispute.|date=July 2021}}
There is evidence that Clermont-Ganneau's theory and the ''LXX'' rendering of Zechariah 14:5 are correct. In 1984, Israeli geologists Daniel Wachs and Dov Levitte identified the location of a large landslide on the Mount of Olives that is directly adjacent to both Wady Yasul (Nahal Atzal) and the area of the ancient King's Gardens at the juncture of the Hinnom and Kidron Valleys.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Wachs |first1= Daniel |last2= Levitte|first2= Dov |year= 1984|title=Earthquake Risk and Slope Stability in Jerusalem |journal=Environmental Geology and Water Sciences |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=183–186 |doi=10.1007/BF02509912 |bibcode= 1984EnGeo...6..183W |s2cid= 140576465 }}</ref> Wachs' and Levitte's discovery validates Jewish historian Flavius Josephus' account of an earthquake-caused landslide during King Uzziah's reign blocking up the kings' gardens in the valley.<ref>Flavius Josephus, ''Antiquities of the Jews'', book 9, chapter 10, paragraph 4, verse 225, William Whiston</ref> It also accords with the ''LXX'' rendering of {{bibleverse|Zechariah|14:5}}, which states a valley will be blocked up as far as Azal. Additionally, the Israelis officially named this valley '''אצל''' (Atzal), which is the same Hebrew spelling of Azal ('''אצל''').{{citation needed|date=July 2021}}{{dubious|What the governmental Names Committee called it has no historical significance.|date=July 2021}}
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Category:Biblical archaeology Category:Hebrew Bible places