Azal

Azal (spelled Azel in the UPDV) is a place near Jerusalem named in a single prophetic vision describing a future day of cataclysmic upheaval around the city.

The Valley That Reaches to Azel

In Zechariah's oracle of the last day, Yahweh's intervention splits the Mount of Olives and reshapes the terrain of Jerusalem, opening a path of escape for its inhabitants. The verse locates Azel as the far boundary of this new valley: "And you⁺ will flee by the valley of my mountains; for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you⁺ will flee, like you⁺ fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah; and Yahweh my God will come, and all the holy ones with you" (Zec 14:5). The flight is compared to the legendary panic caused by an earthquake during Uzziah's reign, evoking both the terror of the moment and the urgency of the escape. Azel marks the end-point of the valley corridor — a topographical anchor in a scene otherwise dominated by cosmic and divine imagery.