Biblical Geography

Mount Hermon

Mountain · Old and New Testament · Jebel al-Shaykh

Scripture first

Psalm 133:3 · WEBU

Loading the passage…

Read the whole chapter in the reader

The dew of Hermon falls on the of Zion: the psalm reaches for the wettest thing it knows.

Hermon rises over 2,800 metres, snow-covered most of the year, the northern wall of the land and the source of the Jordan's headwaters. The Gospels do not name the of the transfiguration; Hermon is the traditional and most fitting candidate, and the journey in runs in its region.

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.

Biblical names
Hermon, Sirion, Senir
Modern identification
Jebel al-Shaykh · Lebanon, Syria

Identification note. Hermon's massif stands at the meeting of modern Lebanon, Syria and the Golan.

Hermon's snow feeds the springs of Dan and Banias, which become the Jordan. Every river scene in the Gospels begins on Hermon's slopes.

  • The dew of Hermon falls on the mountains of Zion: the psalm reaches for the wettest thing it knows.
  • Hermon taken from Og; the Sidonians call it Sirion
  • The land's boundary at Mount Hermon
  • Jesus leads Peter, James and John up a high mountain and is transfigured

What we know

Certain

  • Hermon's identity and its place as the land's northern boundary are secure.

Disputed

  • The mountain of the transfiguration is not named in Scripture; Hermon is a strong tradition, Tabor an older one. The event is certain; the summit is not.