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Casual English Bible

By Stephen M. Miller

Bible Maps Search Engine

Maps related to Psalms

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About the Casual English Bible Maps..

Bible maps make the Bible clearer

The Casual English Bible® maps tell Bible stories in a captivating way that engages even people who have never read the Bible. Lavishly detailed maps only make the stories of Jesus and others more compelling and easier to picture and to understand.

These 3D-style maps of Bible lands are created from blended high resolution satellite images, matched to precise elevation data from international space agencies.

How to search for maps

—Type “Galilee” into the Casual English Bible’s map search engine, below. Instantly, you’ll see dozens of beautiful maps…many in 3D style. Each one tracks with a different Bible story. These aren’t generic maps with a hundred place names.
—Type “Samson” into the Bible map search engine. You’ll see the tiny village where he lived in the Judean foothills below Jerusalem.
—Type “Corinthians” and you’ll see a gallery full of maps associated with Paul’s letters of 1, 2 Corinthians, to the church in Corinth, Greece.

3D sense of the lay of the land

Get a feel for the lay of the land:

—Ararat Mountains, where Noah’s boat ran aground. The Bible doesn’t say it was Mount Ararat.
—Judean hills where Joshua and the Israelites found most of their battles for the Promised Land. They avoided the plains, where their enemies with armored chariots had the advantage over Israel’s foot soldiers.
—Jesus’ 20-mile climb from Jericho and the Jordan River Valley upward half a mile high, to the crest of the Mount of Olives, overlooking Jerusalem.
—One surprise for some readers is the Jesus Triangle, a plug of ground between three cities. It’s where Jesus spent most of his ministry time. A person can walk that entire triangle in a single day. Type “Jesus triangle” to see it.

Map of Exodus Leaving Egypt

maps of Exodus out of Egykpt

Map of Exodus Leaving Egypt

Bible Book: Exodus, Psalms Type: Maps Location: Egypt Era: Exodus, Heroes, kings

Exodus Map

Exodus map of Moses and Hebrews leaving Egypt. The map shows a possible route Moses took when he led the Hebrews to freedom. Many Bibles say Moses and the Hebrews crossed the “Red Sea.” But the Hebrew words are yam suph, “sea reeds.” Later in the story, Moses and the Hebrew refugees will escape through a path God makes in this body of water. Scholars usually track Moses and the Hebrews escaping Egypt by walking southeast, out of the Nile Delta fields. That's toward the Red Sea and the Sinai Peninsula. They would have passed through lake regions along what is now the Suez Canal. This connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. These lakes and ponds reportedly had reeds growing along the banks, like the ones the Bible says grew along the Nile River and helped anchor Baby Moses in a basket (Exodus 2:3). Compare with other Bible versions at Bible Gateway.

Mount Sinai

Horeb is a Hebrew word that can mean “dry,” “desolate,” or “desert.” But here, it reads more like a name. Most Bible scholars say it’s an alternate name for Mount Sinai—much like “Zion” is another name for “Jerusalem.” Some say the mountain is in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Others say it’s in what is now Saudi Arabia, where the people of Midian lived.

Sinai, Land of God

Two Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions from about the 1400s BC, around the time some scholars say Moses lived, said the mountainous territory of the Sinai was the “land of the Shasu of Yahweh.” “Shasu” was what Egyptians called the nomads and herders from what is now the areas of Israel, Palestinian Territories, Syria, and Jordan. Yahweh, translated “LORD” in all capital letters, was God’s name (3:14). The inscription might mean the Sinai was the land of nomads who worshipped God or who were known by the name of God—perhaps as “the people of God.” These inscriptions are the two oldest references outside the Bible to anyone worshiping Yahweh, the God of the Israelites, who were ancestors of today’s Jewish people.
Leaving Egypt
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Lay of the land

map cross-section Israel

Lay of the land

Bible Book: Psalms Type: Maps Location: Bethlehem, Hebron, Israel, Jerusalem, Joppa, Jordan River, Judah, Mount Hermon, Mount Tabor, Nazareth, Samaria the city, Sychar Era: Heroes, kings

Map of Canaan, Promised Land

Ancient Israel, known as Canaan, was located in the eastern Mediterranean region on a plug of ground with diverse geography: seacoast, mountains, river valley, desert. There's also some wasteland that's something of a cross between desert, Mars, and the floormat in a '91 Buick Skylark.

Hill people

The land affected where Israelites chose to live. And it directed the battles they fought with neighboring peoples such as the Philistines and others.
The Jordan River runs down the center of the country, providing a source of water for the Israelites and their crops.
Israelites settled in various parts of the country, depending on the availability of water, fertile land, and defensive positions. Hilltops were good. The Bible describes the Israelites settling in areas such as the central hill country, the Jordan Valley, and the coastal plain.

Powerful Philistine enemy

Philistines, a powerful people of the ancient Near East, today's Middle East, lived in the coastal plain. They were a constant threat to the Israelites. The Bible describes several battles between the Israelites and the Philistines, including the famous story of David and Goliath.
The geography of the land also played a role in these battles. The Philistines' control of the coastal plain gave them a strategic advantage in terms of trade and military power. However, the Israelites' knowledge of the hill country and their ability to use it to their advantage helped them win battles against the Philistines.

Israel's many enemies in Canaan

The Israelites also faced conflicts with other neighboring peoples, including the Canaanites, Amorites, and Moabites. The geography of the land influenced these conflicts as well, with battles often fought over valuable resources such as water and fertile land.
For more Bible background, consider the bestselling Complete Guide to the Bible, by Stephen M. Miller.
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12 Tribes of Israel

map of 12 tribes of Israel

12 Tribes of Israel

Bible Book: Psalms, Hebrews Type: Maps Location: 12 Tribes of Israel, Asher, Benjamin, Canaan, Dan, Ephraim, Gad, Israel, Issachar, Judah, Manasseh, Naphtali, Reuben, Simeon, Zebulun Era: Back from exile, Church, Letters, Conquering Canaan, Heroes, kings

Map of the 12 Tribes of Israel

 
The 12 tribes of Israel came from the families of Jacob's 12 sons (Genesis 49:28). Jacob later in life became known as Israel. Each tribe took the name of their ancestor, one of Jacob's sons. And they each claimed a specific chunk of land to call their own.
The tribes were spread out across the land of Canaan, which is modern-day Israel and Palestine. On the east side of the Jordan River, you had the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh. These guys got some wonderful pastoral land, which was great for grazing their animals, such as like the sheep and goats and camels.

West of the Jordan River

As for the other nine tribes, they were situated on the west side of the Jordan. From the north to the south, you had the tribes of Asher, Naphtali, Zebulun, Issachar, Manasseh (the other half, to be exact), Ephraim, Benjamin, Dan, and Simeon. These tribes were given land that stretched from the Mediterranean Sea all the way to the Jordan River.
Oh, and let's not forget about the tribe of Levi. They were the ones who were in charge of the Temple and didn't really get a specific piece of land to call their own. Instead, they were spread throughout the communities of the other 12 tribes.
The geography of the 12 tribes of Israel was quite diverse and spread out across a large swath of land of hills and fields and coastland and river land and desert. But, somehow, they managed to come together as a people and make a name for themselves as a powerful nation.
Then they split in two. But that comes later.
To compare The Casual English Bible with other versions, see the Bible Gateway.
  12 TRIBES OF ISRAEL
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Promised Land

map showing Promised Land and 12 Tribes of Israel, copyright Stephen M. Miller

Promised Land

Bible Book: Genesis, Psalms Type: Maps Location: Asher, Benjamin, Canaan, Dan, Ephraim, Gad, Israel, Issachar, Judah, Manasseh, Naphtali, Reuben, Simeon, Zebulun Era: Conquering Canaan, Heroes, kings, Israel’s founding fathers

Promised Land

Land covered in milk and honey

"The Promised Land" is a term Bible writers used to talk about the land that God promised to the Israelites, ancient ancestors of today's Jewish people. People also knew it as Canaan, and described it as "a fertile land where milk and honey flow like rivers" (Exodus 3:17, Casual English Bible).

Boundary descriptions vary

Bible writers describe boundaries of the Promised Land in different ways. In Genesis 15:18-21, God made a covenant with Abraham and gave him the following description of the boundaries: "Everything from the river along the border with Egypt to the great Euphrates River. "
This description covers a vast area, including parts of modern-day Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and Syria. The Casual English Bible explains that this description was probably more of a general outline, rather than precise borders.

Boundary in Numbers

Later in the book of Numbers, Moses gave a more detailed description of the Promised Land's boundaries.
South
"The Zin Desert will become your southern border. It will extend over to Edom’s border and up the southern tip of the Dead Sea...
West
You have a natural boundary on the west coast: the Mediterranean Sea. 
North
For your northern border, draw a line from the Mediterranean Sea to Mount Hor of the northland. Stretch that line from Mount Hor to Lebo-hamath to Zedad. Keep the line going to Ziphron and all the way to Hazarenan. That’s your northern border.
East

Now for your eastern border. Start your line at Hazar-enan. Run it south to Shepham. 11Take the line down to Riblah along Ain’s east side. Run it down into the hills east of the Sea of Galilee. Then take that line straight down the Jordan River, all the way to the Dead Sea. There you have it, the borders of your land on all four sides" (Numbers 32:3-12).

The Casual English Bible suggests that this description may have been a more precise boundary, but it is still not very specific regarding the southern and eastern borders.

Ezekiel's boundaries

The book of Ezekiel provides yet another description of the boundaries of the Promised Land. Ezekiel's description is more specific, saying that the land would be divided among the tribes of Israel and would include the land of Judea and Samaria. Some scholars say this description was meant to be symbolic, rather than actual borders.
Despite the differences in the descriptions of the Promised Land's boundaries, one point seemed clear to Bible writers: God promised this land to the Israelites as their inheritance, and he delivered on that promise. The Promised Land is a central theme in the Bible, representing a place of God's provision, where his people can live in peace and prosperity.
Promised Land
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