ACRABBIM (Hebrew Ma'alch 'aqrabbim = "ascent of the scorpions"). — A locality situated between the Dead Sea and the desert of Sin (Num. 34:3-4; Josh. 15:2-3), on the road ascending from Sela (Petra) to Hebron (Judg. 1:36). It marked the southern boundary of the Promised Land (Num. 34:4) and of the tribe of Judah (Josh. 15:3), as well as the boundary of the Amorite territory (Judg. 1:36). It is commonly identified with the mountain pass of Naqb es-Safa (at 466 m. above sea level) southwest of the Dead Sea. The surrounding region was later called Acrabatene ('Ἀκραβαττίνην', Vulgate: Acrabathane); Judas Maccabaeus defeated the Idumaeans there (1 Macc. 5:3).
The A. mentioned by Eusebius and St. Jerome, *De situ et nominibus locorum hebr.* (PL 23, 866), at 9 miles east of Neapolis, would correspond to the present-day village of 'Aqrabah southeast of Neapolis and seems to coincide with the toparchy of Acrabatene, which Pliny (*Hist. Nat.* V, 14) and Flavius Josephus (*Bell. Jud.* II, 20, 4; III, 3, 5; IV, 9, 3) place in Judea. Gaetano M. Perrella