VALLEY GATE (שַׁ֥עַר הַגַּ֖יְא, the gate of the valley): A city gate on the SW side of Jerusalem.

The Valley Gate was equipped with towers by Uzziah, c. 760 b.c. (2 Chron 26:9). It was the point from which Nehemiah began his tour of inspection in 444 b.c. (Neh 2:13, 15); and it figured in his work of rebuilding, being located 500 yards N (& W?) of the Dung Gate (3:13). If Jerusalem, q.v., II, B; III, A, was at this time still confined to the hills E of the central Tyropoeon Valley, the Valley Gate would correspond to the large, later gateway across the city from the Gihon spring and excavated by J. W. Crowfoot in 1927; otherwise it would open out from the city onto the slopes of the SW hill (prob. named Gareb, Jer 31:39), and specifically its E side, toward the central valley. From the Valley Gate the two parties led by Ezra and Nehemiah proceeded along the walls for their dedication in 444, in opposite directions, so as to meet at the Temple, on the NE of Jerusalem (Neh 12:31, 39).