Bible map of cities in ancient Israel
Map of cities in the ancient nation of Israel, during Old Testament Bible Times.
Where to find more Bible maps
The Casual English Bible® has more than 900 Bible maps, many in 3D style. You can search for maps by place name, such as "Sea of Galilee."Dedicated Bible map search engine
But you can also search for maps by Bible book, such as searching for all the maps in the book of Joshua. In addition, you can search by country, region, or era on a timeline, such as when Israel had kings or when Jesus was on earth. Here's a link to the dedicated Map Search Engine.For more Bible features
Cities of Israel
Bible map of Assyria’s provinces in Israel
Edom, Israel, Judah
Bible map of Judah and Edom
Bible map of Judah and Edom
Bible map of Judah, Edom, Paran Desert, King's Highway in the time of King Josiah, after Assyrians erased Israel from the political map.
Judah, Edom, Paran Desert, King's Highway
3D Bible map for Jonah
Israel, Judah capture land
Israel, Judah capture land
Land grab
Israel and Judah take land from Syria and Edom
Israel, Judah, and Moab are the big winners in a land grab. Each nation fought for control over their individual corners of the region.Assyria weakens Syria
Assyria attacks Syria, leaving it too weak to defend itself against an opportunist like Israel's King Jeroboam. Jeroboam II recovered territory Israel lost to Syria. He restores Israel’s border from Lebo-hamath in the north (about 50 miles/80 km northwest of Damascus), to the Dead Sea in the south. A prophet named Jonah, son of Amittai, said it would happen. Jonah came from the town of Gath-hepher.God helped make it happen
The LORD helped Jeroboam do these things because he saw how desperate the people had become. There was no one else willing to help them, free or slave. One more reason the LORD helped is because he promised not to let anyone erase them from the world. Those are the reasons he helped Jeroboam II, son of Jehoash.Edom and Judah gain land, too
Edom can't stop the young king of Judah, Amaziah, still in his early 20s and ambitious. After taking Edom, he challenges Israel to a battle. He loses, gets captured, and for punishment, Israel's soldiers knock down part of Jerusalem's city walls. Many citizens are taken as slaves.Moab's last stand
As for Moab, the combined armies of Judah and Israel can't break through the defenses of Moab's capital city, Kir-hareseth. Moab’s king saw he was losing the city. So, he took 700 swordsmen and tried to punch through Edom’s line and scatter the enemy. He failed and had to retreat.King sacrifices his son on city wall
Then he killed his oldest son, who would have succeeded him as king. He burned the body on top of the city wall as a sacrifice for everyone to see. Israel saw it, too. Angry and disgusted, they went home.Where to find more Bible maps
The Casual English Bible® has more than 900 Bible maps, many in 3D style. You can search for maps by place name, such as "Sea of Galilee."Dedicated Bible map search engine
But you can also search for maps by Bible book, such as searching for all the maps in the book of Joshua. In addition, you can search by country, region, or era on a timeline, such as when Israel had kings or when Jesus was on earth. Here's a link to the dedicated Map Search Engine.For more Bible features
Israel and Judah grab land
Famine, murder, revolution in Israel
Famine, murder, revolution in Israel
Famine, murder, revolution
Famine in Israel
Elisha met with the woman from Shunem, whose son he brought back to life. He told her, “The LORD is sending a famine here. For seven years we won’t have enough food to go around. So, you need to live somewhere else during that time." She did what the prophet said. She moved into Philistine territory and stayed there for seven years.The famine may have been started by Syrian king Ben-hadad's three-year siege of Israel's capital city of Samaria. Invading soldiers may have destroyed the crops. It takes several years to restart a vineyard burned to the ground, for example.
Murder in Damascus, prompted by a prophet
Elisha pays a visit to Damascus while the Syrian king, Ben-hadad, lies sick in bed. He's hostile to Israel, but apparently values the opinion of Israel's most revered prophet. So he sends a messenger to ask if he'll recover from the sickness. Elisha tells the messenger, Hazael, to lie and tell the king he'll recover. Elisha then cries and tells Hazael that he'll do terrible things to Israel.Hazael tells the king he'll get well. Then he suffocates him and declares himself king of Syria.
Hazael will declare war on Israel and begin to take some of Israel's land east of the Jordan River. King Ahab's son and successor, Joram joins forces with Judah's army to try to stop the Syrians. Joram is wounded in the fight and goes to his getaway palace in the town of Jezreel to recover. He will die there, assassinated by one of his chariot commanders, prompted by a message from Elisha (2 Kings 9). That would be two kings Elisha nudged into an assassination.
Revolution
Edom and the little border town of Libnah revolted against Judah during the reign of Jehoram, the king who went into battle with Joram against Syria, and lost. Edom may have seen that as a sign of weakness. The nation won their independence, and the Israelites never regained control of the land.For more Bible features
Famine, murder, and revolution in Israel
Elijah’s chariot of fire
Elijah's chariot of fire
Elijah's walk into the wind
Elijah didn't die, according to Bible writers. He was carried away on the wind while his colleague, Elisha, watched as "horses of fire pulling a chariot of fire charged at the men—driving between them and separating them. Then a powerful wind knocked Elijah off his feet and carried him into the sky" (2 Kings 2:11). Elisha started screaming, “Father! Father! Israel’s chariots and calvary!” (2 Kings 2:12).Experts try to explain what happened
Scholars don’t agree about how to explain what just happened. Was it a theophany—a physical expression of a spiritual or celestial event? Or was it physical and literal—horses that could toast a hotdog? Was it physical and metaphorical—lightning and a tornado or maybe an intense thunderstorm associated with a powerful dust storm? Or was it a vision of heaven’s military carrying Elijah away.Did Elijah die?
What remains of the story is the teaching that Elijah never died. Jews today set a cup of wine out for Elijah at every annual Passover meal known as a seder. Some teach that Elijah will come before the Messiah comes, as one prophet seemed to predict (Malachi 4:5). Jesus later taught that John the Baptist fulfilled that prophecy (Matthew 11:14).Elisha's request
Before the windstorm, while still on the walk, Elisha asked if he could take Elijah's role as the lead prophet: “Please, let me be the one to inherit the position you’re leaving behind" (2 Kings 2:9). And that's what happened. A group of prophets in Jericho said so: “The ministry of Elijah now rests on Elisha’s shoulders” ( 2 Kings 2:15).Elisha's ministry
The Hebrew word for “ministry” is ruah, which has many meanings: breath, wind, spiritual essence of a person, spirit being. In the context of the story, the prophets seemed to recognize that Elijah’s ministry as Israel’s leading prophet had just fallen to Elijah’s apprentice, Elisha.For more Bible features
Boss of Edom, Moab
Boss of Edom, Moab
Bosses of the Promised Land
Kings of Israel and Judah controlled their neighbor countries of Edom and Moab for part of the era of Israelite kings. Moab had apparently lived under the dominance of Israel since David conquered the nation (2 Samuel 8:12). This likely meant, in part, that they paid annual tribute to Israel’s king—essentially tax payments. This marks a turning point in the history of the northern Jewish kingdom, the beginning of the end of their empire.2 Kings 1-4, Israel's king, about to die
"1When King Ahab of Israel died, Moab decided to declare its independence from Israel. 2Israel’s King Ahaziah fell through the latticework of an upper window in Samaria. Injured, he wanted to know if he would recover. So, he sent messengers to ask Baalzebub, god of the people in the city of Ekron. 3But a messenger from the LORD told Elijah, a prophet from the town of Tishbe, to go and intercept the king’s people. Elijah was to say, “Tell me this, why are you going to Ekron to consult Baalzebub? Don’t we have a God here in Israel? 4Take this message as a reminder that we do. Tell the king the LORD says this: ‘You won’t leave your sickbed. You’ll die there.’” Elijah delivered that message."2 Kings 2:1-9, Moab declares independence
Israel declares war
1King Ahab’s son, Joram, became king of the northern Jewish nation of Israel. By that time, Jehoshaphat was into his 18th year as king of Judah. Joram reigned a dozen years.
2In God’s eyes, Joram was a poor excuse of a king. But Joram wasn’t as wretched and evil as his parents, Ahab and Jezebel. Joram tore down the Baal pillar [1] his father built. 3Still, he continued King Jeroboam’s long tradition of sinning.
Moab stops paying Israel
4King Mesha of Moab bred sheep. When King Ahab was alive and Israel was powerful, Mesha had to pay him to live in peace. Mesha gave Ahab 100,000 lambs and wool from 100,000 sheep. 5But Ahab was dead now. So, Mesha was done with that. He declared his independence by refusing to make those payments.Israel declares war
6King Joram mustered his army, pulling fighters in from all over Israel. They marched out of Samaria. 7Along the way, Joram sent a message to King Jehoshaphat in Judah: “Moab’s king has rebelled. Will you join the battle with me and fight Moab?” Jehoshaphat said, “I will. We are one. My people are your people. My horses are your horses. 8Which way should we go?” Joram said, “We’ll attack from the south, from Edom’s desert.”Moab's last city refuses to fall
Israelites defeat much of Moab's army and finally surround the last city, where Moab's king reigns. He sacrifices his son on the city wall, and Israelites give up and go home. The writer doesn't say why.
For more Bible features
Map of Israel, Judah, Moab, and Edom
Jezreel insurrection
Jezreel insurrection
Chariot commander leads insurrection at Jezreel
The is what happened when one of Israel's chariot corps commanders, on a mission to crown himself king, leads an insurrection in the city of Jezreel, the king's getaway palace."At Jezreel, a guard in the city tower saw a group of people coming. He said, 'We’re about to get company.' ...
Joram said, 'Get my ride.' They brought his chariot and he rode out to meet Jehu. Judah’s King Ahaziah came, too, in his own chariot. The kings met Jehu on the property of Naboth, who lived in Greater Jezreel, outside the walls. Joram asked Jehu, 'Is it going to be peace, Jehu?' And Jehu said, 'Peace? How can there be peace when our people worship idols and practice sorcery, which your mother Jezebel brought here?'
ISRAEL’S KING SHOT IN THE HEART
Joram turned his horses around and yelled, 'Traitors, Ahaziah!' Jehu raised his bow and shot an arrow into Joram’s heart. The king collapsed in his chariot.Jehu told an officer named Bidkar, 'ump his body here on Naboth’s land. Remember back when we rode with his father Ahab, and we heard that prophecy from the LORD against him? ‘The LORD says that for the murder of Naboth and his sons, Ahab would pay for it on this plot of land.’ So, roll him out of the chariot and leave him here, since the LORD said it would happen this way.'
JUDAH’S KING SHOT DEAD
Judah’s King Ahaziah saw what Jehu did, and he raced away in the direction of Beth Haggan. Jehu followed and told his men, 'Shoot him, too!' They shot him as his chariot started to make the climb to Gur, near the town of Ibleam. Wounded, he rode to Megiddo and died there. Some of his soldiers carried his body back to Jerusalem in a chariot. His people buried him in the City of David among his ancestors.Ahab’s son Joram was in the eleventh year of his reign in Israel when Ahaziah became king of Judah." 2 Kings 9:14, 7-22, Casual English Bible
For more Bible features
Jezreel Insurrection