ACRABBIM (Heb. Ma'aleh 'aqrabbim, “ascent of the scorpions”). - A locality situated between the Dead Sea and the wilderness of Sin (Num. 34, 3-4; Ios. 15, 2-3), on the road which from Sela (Petra) ascended to Hebron (Iud. 1, 36). It marked the southern boundary of the Promised Land (Num. 34, 4) and of the tribe of Judah (Ios. 15, 3), as well as the boundary of the territory of the Amorites (Iud. 1, 36). It is commonly identified with the mountain pass of Naqb es-Safa (466 m. above sea level), south-west of the Dead Sea. The surrounding region was later called Acrabatene ('Ἀκραβαττίνης'). Vulgate: Acrabathane; Judas Maccabeus defeated the Idumeans there (I Mach. 5, 3).
The A. mentioned by Eusebius and St. Jerome, De situ et nominibus locorum hebr. (PL 23, 866), 9 miles east of Nablus, would correspond to the present-day village of 'Aqrabèh south-east of Nablus and appears to coincide with the toparchy of Acrabatene which Pliny (Hist. Nat. V, 14) and Flavius Josephus (Bell. Iud. II, 20, 4; III, 3, 5; IV, 9, 3) place in Judea. Gaetano M. Perrella