E. of Jordan. The Hebrew means "waters of quiet," but, except tank water, none is there. Mesha in the famous Dibon stone writes: "Omri took the land, Medeba, and occupied it (in his days and in) the days of his son 40 years"; no doubt as a fortress to command the surrounding district. At the time of the Exodus the Amorites had dispossessed Moab of part of the land which Moab had wrested from the Emims (Deuteronomy 2:9-11; Numbers 21:23-26). Israel in turn wrested from the Amorite Sihon "from Arnon even unto Jabbok." The national lay, Numbers 21:27-29, first describes Sihon's defeat of Moab: "a flame from the city of Sihon ... hath consumed Ar of Moab, and the lords of the high places of Arnon.
        Woe unto thee Moab, ... He hath given ... his daughters into captivity unto Sihon king of the Amorites (so far the ballad describes Sihon's triumph over Moat; Israel's triumph over Sihon follows) ... We have shot at them. Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid them waste even unto Nopha, which reacheth (rather with fire) unto Medeba." Heshbon was northernmost, Medeba now Madeba in the pastoral district of the Belka (called "the plain" or level downs, the mishor "of Moab," Joshua 13:9 assigned to Reuben) was four miles S.E. of it. A fortress in David's time (1 Chronicles 19:7-15), before which Joab defeated Ammon and the Syrians of Maachah, Mesopotamia, and Zobah. In Ahaz' time Medeba was a sanctuary of Moab (Isaiah 15:2).