Kidron or Cedron, John 18:1, A. V., (kĭd'ron or ke'dron), or Kedron, 2 Samuel 15:23; 1 Kings 15:13; black brook. From a Hebrew root signifying "black," not from cedars, cedar-brook. It is a small stream, dry in summer, but growing into a torrent in the rainy season; rises 1½ miles northwest of Jerusalem; runs in a southeastern direction until it reaches the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea. Here Athaliah was executed, 2 Kings 11:16; here Maachah's idols were burnt, 1 Kings 15:13; 2 Chronicles 15:16; and hither the impurities and abominations of idol-worship were regularly carried and destroyed. 2 Chronicles 29:16; 2 Chronicles 30:14; 2 Kings 23:4; 2 Kings 23:6; 2 Kings 23:12. In the time of Josiah it became the common burial-place of the city, 2 Kings 23:16, and so it is today. The two events, however, connected with it, and which give it its greatest interest, are David's crossing it on his flight from Jerusalem when Absalom rebelled, 2 Samuel 15:23; 2 Samuel 15:30; and Christ's crossing it on his way to Gethsemane. John 18:1; Mark 14:26; Luke 22:39. As Cæsar crossed the Rubicon for the military conquest of the world, so Christ crossed the Kedron for the salvation of the world.