Category
Old Testament
Patriarchs, prophets and kings — the land before the Gospels.
Old Testament sites take you back before the Gospels — to Ur, Babylon, Nineveh, Mount Ararat, Mount Nebo and the wilderness of the Exodus. This guide to Old Testament places you can still visit pairs each location with the Hebrew scripture that names it, the archaeology that supports it and the practical detail on reaching sites across Iraq, Turkey, Jordan and Egypt.
18 destinations
5/5 SignificanceSaint Catherine, Egypt
Mount Sinai
The 2,285-metre mountain where, according to Jewish, Christian and Muslim tradition, Moses received the Ten Commandments.
5/5 SignificanceSaint Catherine, Egypt
Saint Catherine's Monastery
The oldest monastery still in use, built around the bush where God spoke to Moses. It holds a world-famous library.
5/5 SignificanceQumran, Israel
Qumran
Caves above the Dead Sea where a shepherd boy found the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest Bible texts we have.
5/5 SignificanceHebron, Palestine
Cave of the Patriarchs
The cave Abraham bought as a family grave. People have prayed here for thousands of years.
5/5 SignificanceBethlehem, Palestine
Bethlehem
The home town of King David and the place where Jesus was born. A small hill town the Bible comes back to again and again.
5/5 SignificanceJerusalem, Israel
Jerusalem
The city at the heart of the Bible story: the temple, the cross, the empty tomb and the promise of a new city.
5/5 SignificanceNasiriyah, Iraq
Ur of the Chaldees
The ancient city Abraham left behind when God called him to move to a new land.
4/5 SignificanceMadaba, Jordan
Mount Nebo
The hill where Moses looked out over the Promised Land he was never allowed to enter.
4/5 SignificanceJericho, Palestine
Jericho
One of the oldest towns on earth, with a stone tower older than the pyramids and the famous walls from the Bible story.
4/5 SignificanceBeer Sheva, Israel
Beersheba
A desert town with an old well, where Abraham and Isaac made promises with a local king.
4/5 SignificanceHillah, Iraq
Babylon
The great empire that took the people of Judah away from home. Many sad and famous Bible songs were written here.
4/5 SignificanceJerusalem, Israel
Hezekiah's Tunnel
A 533-metre water tunnel cut through solid rock 2,700 years ago so Jerusalem would have water during a siege. You can walk through it.
4/5 SignificanceMegiddo, Israel
Megiddo
A hill made of 26 towns built on top of each other, looking over the valley the Bible calls Armageddon.
4/5 SignificanceDoğubayazıt, Turkey
Mount Ararat
The snow-covered mountain named in the Bible as the place where Noah's ark came to rest.
4/5 SignificanceHaifa, Israel
Mount Carmel
The mountain ridge where the prophet Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal.
4/5 SignificanceMosul, Iraq
Nineveh
The capital of Assyria, the city Jonah was sent to. Its old walls still form a huge rectangle across the river from Mosul.
4/5 SignificanceShiloh, Palestine
Shiloh
Israel's first holy place, where the tabernacle (the tent of God) stood for many years.
3/5 SignificanceDead Sea Plain, Jordan
Sodom and Gomorrah
Salt flats and burnt hills at the south end of the Dead Sea, where the Bible places the cities God destroyed.