Deuteronomy 27:12-13

These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin:

These shall stand upon mount Gerizim ... these shall stand upon mount Ebal. Those gigantic masses of limestone rock are the highest peaks of a mountain-range which, in various diverging branches, stretches out far both to the east and west. Ebal and Gerizim stand isolated, reaching apparently from 800 to 1,000 feet above the town of Shechem (Nablous), which lies in the intermediate valley. Van de Velde's barometrical measurement was-for Gerizim, 2,000 feet above the sea level, and 928 feet above Shechem; for Ebal, 2,700 feet above the level of the sea, and 1,028 feet above the town.

They stand, Ebal on the north, Gerizim on the south, of a fertile, verdant, and well-watered valley, which extends to a width of about 300 yards, though at the opening of the ravine, where the town of Shechem is situated, the plain is much narrower. The adjoining sides of the two mounts give to the valley an air of pleasant, and at the same time of complete, seclusion.

The people of Israel were here divided into two parts. On mount Gerizim (now Jebel-et-Tur) were stationed the descendants of Rachel and Leah, the two principal wives of Jacob; and to them was assigned the most pleasant and honourable office of pronouncing the benedictions; while on the twin hill of Ebal (now Imad-el-Deen, according to Stanley, 'Sinai and Palestine,' p. 233, note; but according to most other travelers, Sitti Salamiyah, called after a Mohammedan saint) were placed the posterity of the two secondary wives, Zilpah and Bilhah, with those of Reuben, who had lost the primogeniture, and Zebulun, who was Leah's youngest son; to them was committed the necessary but painful duty of pronouncing the maledictions. Thus, one-half the Hebrew people were ranged on the one hill, the mount of blessing, and the other half on the opposite, Ebal, where the awful maledictions were pronounced on those who should violate the precepts of the divine code of laws (see the note at Judges 9:7). The ceremony might have taken place on the lower spurs of the mountains, where they approach more closely to each other; and although the account given here of the proceedings is very brief, the curses only being recorded, the course observed was as follows: Amid the silent expectations of the solemn assembly, the priests, standing round the ark in the valley below, said aloud, looking to Gerizim, 'Blessed is the man that maketh not any graven image,' when the people ranged on that hill responded in full simultaneous shouts of 'Amen,' expressing their cordial assent; then, turning round to Ebal, they cried, not 'Cursed be'-as there was no imprecation, but a denunciation of the divine displeasure against those who had been or should be guilty of the following enumerated sins-but 'Cursed the man,' or, 'Cursed is the man that maketh any graven image;' to which those that covered the ridge answered, 'Amen.' The same course at every pause was followed with all the blessings and curses (see the notes at Joshua 8:33).