Dead Sea on the Israeli side allows production of magnesium metal (by a subsidiary, Dead Sea Magnesium Ltd.). Due to the popularity of the sea's therapeutic and healing properties, several companies have also shown interest in the manufacturing and supplying of Dead Sea salts as raw materials for body and skin care products. Since 1930, when its surface was and its level was below sea level, the Dead Sea has been monitored continuously. In recent decades, the Dead Sea has been rapidly shrinking because of diversion of incoming water from the Jordan River to the north. The southern end is fed by
Dead Sea Bible uses this term alongside two others: the Sea of the Arabah (' ), and the Eastern Sea ("" ). The designation "Dead Sea" never appears in the Bible. In prose sometimes the term ' (, "sea of death") is used, due to the scarcity of aquatic life there. In Arabic the Dead Sea is called ("the Dead Sea"), or less commonly ' (, "the Sea of Lot"). Another historic name in Arabic was the "Sea of Zoʼar", after a nearby town in biblical times. The Greeks called it "Lake Asphaltites" (Attic Greek , "", "the Asphaltite sea"). The Dead