Valley of Jezreel

Valley of Jezreel - lying on the northern side of the city, between the ridges of Gilboa[?] and Moreh, an offshoot of Esdraelon[?], running east to the Jordan (Josh. 17:16; Judg. 6:33; Hos. 1:5). It was the scene of the signal victory gained by the Israelites under Gideon over the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the "children of the east" (Judg. 6:3). Two centuries after this the Israelites were here defeated by the Philistines, and Saul and Jonathan, with the flower of the army of Israel, fell (1 Sam. 31:1-6).

This name was in after ages extended to the whole of the plain of Esdraelon[?] (q.v.). It was only this plain of Jezreel[?] and that north of Lake Huleh that were then accessible to the chariots of the Canaanites (comp. 2 Kings 9:21; 10:15).

From Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)