Bible Meaning: Not found in Scripture
Although the name "Dead Sea" is not found in the King James Bible, this large body of water is referred to generically as the "salt sea" (Strong's #H4417, #H3220) or the "sea of the plain (desert)" (#H4417, #H6160) in the Old Testament. The lake, primarily fed by the Jordan River, was usually used to demark various borders and boundaries in Scripture.
In modern times, the Dead Sea is 1,412 feet (430 meters) below sea level, making it the lowest elevation of land in the world.
The sea is located in a relatively hot desert climate with no natural outlet, evaporates quickly. The amount of salt left behind by this evaporation process causes the remaining water to be almost ten times saltier than the ocean! The density of salt is so high that it allows people to seemingly float in the water. It also makes it virtually impossible for animal or plant life to flourish and hence it was considered dead.
Water prophecy
A prophecy recorded in Ezekiel 47:7 - 10 seems to indicate that, in the future, God will heal the Dead Sea of being "dead" and allow it to support a multiple of fish and other life.
Important Verses
Genesis 14:1 - 3
And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations;
That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar. All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea (Dead Sea).
Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
Numbers 34:3, 12
Then your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Zin along by the coast of Edom, and your south border shall be the outmost coast of the salt (Dead) sea eastward . . .
And the border shall go down to Jordan, and the goings out of it shall be at the salt sea: this shall be your land with the coasts thereof round about.
Deuteronomy 3:16 - 17
And unto the Reubenites and unto the Gadites I (God) gave from Gilead even unto the river Arnon half the valley, and the border even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon;
The plain also, and Jordan, and the coast thereof, from Chinnereth even unto the (dead) sea of the plain . . .
Joshua 3:1, 14, 16
And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.
And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan . . .
That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the (dead) sea of the plain . . .
Joshua 18:19
And the border passed along to the side of Bethhoglah northward: and the outgoings of the border were at the north bay of the salt sea (Dead Sea) at the south end of Jordan: this was the south coast.