SEPHELA (Hebrew *haš-Šephēlāh* «lowland»). — A term (often translated by the Septuagint as *7 mēdū (yī)* = Vulgate *campestris* [land], or *tō mēdōv* = *campus*), which in the geography of Palestine (Deut. 1:7; Josh. 11:2; 1 Macc. 3:24) designates the zone of hills extending from the south, Lachish and Eglon, to the plain of Aijalon in the north; broad valleys separate it from the edge of the Judean highland to the east and from the coastal plain of Sharon and Philistia to the west.
The Philistines moved from their lands to occupy villages of the S. (2 Chr. 28:18; Zech. 7:7); the Syrian troops defeated by the Jews in the S. fled to the cities of the coast and Philistia (1 Macc. 3:24; 4:45; 5:66, 68).
In a much broader sense, the term S. was used to designate the entire territory from the hills to the seacoast. Thus the sycamore, which thrives mainly in the sandy soil of the coast, is regarded as characteristic of the S. (1 Kgs. 10:27). In the list of cities assigned to Judah in the S. (Josh. 15:45), some localities—even if the inclusion of Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron (Accaron) is suspect—lie geographically outside the hill zone. In this extended sense, Eusebius (Onom., 162) attributes to the S. all the territory that extends north and west from Eleutheropolis (Beit Jibrin).
Rich in natural resources (oil, wine, grain), the S. was always contested between the Jews and the Philistines, especially for control of the valleys, the natural routes into the heart of Judea.