Biblical Geography

Judea

Region · New Testament

Scripture first

Luke 2:4 · WEBU

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Joseph goes up from Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem, for the census.

Judea was the heartland of Second Judaism: Jerusalem, the temple, and the villages around them. Jesus was born in Judea and there, and the church began there at Pentecost.

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

Biblical names
Judea, Judaea

Identification note. New Testament Judea was the old territory of Judah under Roman rule, overlapping parts of modern Israel and the West Bank.

Judea's spine is a high, dry ridge falling eastward into . In the Gospels one goes down from Jerusalem to Jericho and up to Jerusalem, exactly as the roads run.

  • Joseph goes up from Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem, for the census.
  • John preaches in the wilderness of Judea
  • Jesus leaves Judea and passes through Samaria
  • Witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the end of the earth

What we know

Certain

  • Judea as the Roman-period name of the southern hill country is attested in the Gospels, Acts and Josephus.