Heshbon

Located about 30km east of, and about 1500m above, the River Jordan on the plateau of Gilead, Heshbon was the capital city of Sihon, king of the Amorites, in Transjordan, as a result of which Sihon is most often characterized as "king of Heshbon" or "who reigned in Heshbon" (Num 21:34; Deut 1:4; 2:24, 26, 30; 3:2, 6; Jos 9:10; 12:2). One of the first cities to be captured by the Israelites as they prepared to enter the Promised Land (Num 21:25ff.), it was allotted to the tribe of Reuben (Jos 13:17, just on the border with the tribe of Gad, 13:26) and appointed a Levitical city by Moses (Jos 21:39).

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Its modern name is Hesban, and is well-known for its springs, a fact already known to Solomon who compared his lover's eyes to "the pools of Heshbon by the gate of Bath Rabbim" (Song 7:4).