Biblical Geography

The land promised to Abraham and settled under Joshua, between the Jordan, the sea, the desert and Lebanon.

The southern hill country of the New Testament, containing Jerusalem and Bethlehem, the old kingdom of Judah under Rome.

The northern hill country around the Sea of Galilee where Jesus grew up and where most of his ministry happened.

The central hill country between Galilee and Judea, and the capital city of the northern kingdom built by Omri.

The wooded highlands east of the Jordan, between the Yarmuk and the Arnon, home of Jephthah and Elijah.

The rich volcanic plateau north-east of the Sea of Galilee, famed for its cattle, oaks and its giant king Og.

The league of ten Greek cities east of the Jordan where crowds heard Jesus and the healed man bore witness.

The dry southland of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, between Hebron and the wilderness of Sinai.

The Nile empire of the pharaohs: refuge for Jacob's family, house of slavery, and the power Israel left at the Exodus.

The land between the Tigris and the Euphrates: Babel, Ur, Haran, Babylon, Nineveh, and the homeland Abraham was called from.

The peninsula of Paul's first journey, the seven churches of Revelation, and much of the New Testament's world.

The city David captured and made his capital, where the ark was brought, where Solomon built the temple, which Babylon destroyed and the returning exiles rebuilt, where Jesus taught, was crucified and was raised, and where the church began.

The small ridge town of Judah, six miles south of Jerusalem: Rachel buried on the road to it, Ruth gleaning in its fields, Boaz redeeming her at its gate, David born and anointed in it, Micah naming it as the place a ruler would come from, and the Gospels placing the birth of Jesus there.

The oasis city of the Jordan valley, the first city Israel took in Canaan, and the town of Zacchaeus and blind Bartimaeus.

The hill village of lower Galilee where Jesus grew up, and whose name clung to him: Jesus of Nazareth.

The lakeside fishing town Jesus made his base: his own city, where Peter lived and the synagogue stood.

The high city of the patriarchs: Abraham's burial cave, and David's first capital.

The great Assyrian capital on the Tigris: the city Jonah was sent to, and the city Nahum saw fall.

The walled city on the Euphrates where the exiles lived and Daniel served, fallen to Cyrus in one night.

The ancient oasis capital of Aram, on the road between Mesopotamia and Egypt, where Paul was converted.

The great port of Asia Minor: Paul's longest stay, the temple of Artemis, the Ephesian letter, and the first church of Revelation.

The bustling isthmus city of Achaia where Paul stayed eighteen months and to which he wrote his longest pastoral letters.

The Roman colony of Macedonia where the gospel first took root in Europe: Lydia, the jailer, and the letter of joy.

The capital of the empire: the letter to the Romans, Paul's imprisonment, and the end of Acts.

The sea of the Exodus: Israel's deliverance, Pharaoh's judgment, and the Song of Moses on the far shore.

The boundary river of the promised land, and the one place Scripture returns to across a thousand years: Israel's crossing, Elijah's departure, Naaman's washing, John's preaching and the baptism of Jesus.

The freshwater lake below sea level around which most of Jesus' Galilean ministry happened: the call of the fishermen, the storm, the walking on the water.

The Salt Sea at the bottom of the rift valley, the border of Judah and the sea that receives the Jordan and gives nothing back.

Egypt's river of life: the basket of Moses, the plagues, and the water that turned to blood.

The great river of Mesopotamia: Eden's boundary marker, the promised land's far border, Babylon's water, and a boundary of Revelation.

The swift eastern river: Eden's third river, Assyria's water, and the river of Daniel's vision.

The seasonal river of the Jezreel valley that swept away Sisera's chariots and ran at Elijah's hand on Carmel.

The tributary gorge east of the Jordan where Jacob wrestled through the night and left as Israel.

The Great Sea of the Old Testament and the sailing water of Acts: Israel's western border and the gospel's road to the nations.

The mountain of the law: the burning bush country, the thunder and the cloud, the covenant, and the golden calf.

The green headland above the sea where Elijah faced the prophets of Baal and the fire fell.

The ridge east of Jerusalem across the Kidron: David's flight, Jesus' prayers and tears, the ascension, and the promised return.

The hill of David's fortress and of the temple's God; the name that grows to mean Jerusalem, the people, and finally the city above.

The mountain of Abraham's offering and, by the chronicler's record, the hill of Solomon's temple.

The snow-capped giant at the land's northern edge, source of the Jordan, whose dew the psalm sings and whose heights many link to the transfiguration.

The mountains of Ararat where the ark came to rest as the flood receded.

The barren rain-shadow east of Judah's ridge falling to the Dead Sea: David's refuge, John's preaching ground, and the place of Jesus' testing.

The granite desert of the peninsula where Israel spent the years between Egypt and the promise: manna, water from the rock, the covenant.

The desert basin south of Canaan around Kadesh-barnea, where the spies' report was heard and the generation was turned back.

The high desert plateau of the central Sinai where Hagar wandered and where Israel camped on the march from Sinai to Kadesh.

The dry southland below Beersheba: Abraham's wells, Hagar's flight, and the threshold of the promised land.

The Nile empire of the pharaohs: refuge for Jacob's family, house of slavery, and the power Israel left at the Exodus.

The covenant people and their land between the Jordan and the sea; after Solomon, the northern kingdom of ten tribes.

The southern kingdom of David's line, centred on Jerusalem, surviving Israel by a century and a half before Babylon.

The Mesopotamian empire that destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel and carried its people away.

The empire that broke Judah, burned the temple and carried the people into exile; and in the prophets and Revelation, the Bible's lasting symbol of proud world power.

The empire of Cyrus that ended the exile and sent Judah home to rebuild the temple.

The world of the Greek city-states, whose language carried the gospel and whose cities heard Paul.

The empire under which Christ was born, crucified and preached to the nations; the world of the New Testament.

From Ur of the Chaldeans up the Euphrates to Haran, then down through Canaan to Egypt and back: the migration that began the covenant story.

From the brick fields of Egypt through the sea to Sinai and the edge of the promise: the forty years that made Israel a nation.

From the plains of Moab across the Jordan at flood stage: Jericho, Ai, and the taking of the hill country under Joshua.

From Gilead to the Kerith ravine, up the coast to Zarephath, to Carmel's fire, then south through the desert to Horeb, and back to the Jordan.

The forced march east: Jerusalem's fall, the deportations of 597 and 586 BC, and the seventy years by the rivers of Babylon.

The long road home under Cyrus: Zerubbabel's caravans, Ezra's dangerous journey, and Nehemiah's commission.

From Nazareth to the lakeshore, through Samaria, up to the feasts, and at last the road up to Jerusalem: the Gospels' geography of three years.

Three missionary journeys and a voyage to Rome: Antioch to Asia Minor, Macedonia, Achaia, Ephesus, Jerusalem, and the storm to Italy.