The "circle" (hacicar ) of cultivation, wherein stood Sodom, Gomorrah, and the other three cities. Genesis 13:10-12, "cities of the circuit" round Jordan, the low plain along the water (Genesis 19:17). In Matthew 3:5 and Luke 3:3; Luke 7:17, the populous region containing Jericho, etc., in the Jordan valley, enclosed in the amphitheater-like Quarantana hills. Compare as to the similar region of Gennesaret (Matthew 14:35).