Medeba

Meaning: waters of quiet

It was assigned to the tribe of Reuben (Joshua 13:16). Here was fought the great battle in which Joab defeated the Ammonites and their allies (1 Chronicles 19:7-15; compare 2 Samuel 10:6-14). In the time of Isaiah (15:2) the Moabites regained possession of it from the Ammonites. (See Hanun.)

The ruins of this important city, now Madeba or Madiyabah, are seen about 8 miles southwest of Heshbon, and 14 east of the Dead Sea. Among these are the ruins of what must have been a large temple, and of three cisterns of considerable extent, which are now dry. These cisterns may have originated the name Medeba, “waters of quiet.” (See Omri.)