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 Significance

Saint Catherine, Egypt

Mount Sinai

The 2,285-metre mountain where, according to Jewish, Christian and Muslim tradition, Moses received the Ten Commandments.

5/5 · Scripturally central

5/5 Significance

Saint 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 · Scripturally central

5/5 Significance

Qumran, Israel

Qumran

Caves above the Dead Sea where a shepherd boy found the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest Bible texts we have.

5/5 · Scripturally central

5/5 Significance

Bethlehem, 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 · Scripturally central

5/5 Significance

Nasiriyah, Iraq

Ur of the Chaldees

The ancient city Abraham left behind when God called him to move to a new land.

5/5 · Scripturally central

5/5 Significance

Hebron, Palestine

Cave of the Patriarchs

The cave Abraham bought as a family grave. People have prayed here for thousands of years.

5/5 · Scripturally central

5/5 Significance

Jerusalem, 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 · Scripturally central

4/5 Significance

Madaba, Jordan

Mount Nebo

The hill where Moses looked out over the Promised Land he was never allowed to enter.

4/5 · Major biblical site

4/5 Significance

Jericho, 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 · Major biblical site

4/5 Significance

Jerusalem, 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 · Major biblical site

4/5 Significance

Shiloh, Palestine

Shiloh

Israel's first holy place, where the tabernacle (the tent of God) stood for many years.

4/5 · Major biblical site

4/5 Significance

Hillah, 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 · Major biblical site

4/5 Significance

Beer Sheva, Israel

Beersheba

A desert town with an old well, where Abraham and Isaac made promises with a local king.

4/5 · Major biblical site

4/5 Significance

Haifa, Israel

Mount Carmel

The mountain ridge where the prophet Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal.

4/5 · Major biblical site

4/5 Significance

Doğubayazıt, Turkey

Mount Ararat

The snow-covered mountain named in the Bible as the place where Noah's ark came to rest.

4/5 · Major biblical site

4/5 Significance

Megiddo, Israel

Megiddo

A hill made of 26 towns built on top of each other, looking over the valley the Bible calls Armageddon.

4/5 · Major biblical site

4/5 Significance

Mosul, 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 · Major biblical site

3/5 Significance

Dead 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.

3/5 · Well attested