Conquest and the Judges

Abraham's first stopping point in Canaan, where God promised the land to his offspring. Jacob bought a parcel here; Joshua renewed the covenant here; Rehoboam came here to be made king, leading to the division of the kingdom.

The southern boundary of the patriarchal lands ("from Dan to Beersheba"). Abraham planted a tamarisk and called on the name of the Lord; Isaac dug wells; Jacob received a vision here on his way down to Egypt.

Abraham settled by the oaks of Mamre near Hebron and bought the cave of Machpelah there as a burial site for Sarah. Patriarchs and matriarchs (except Rachel) are traditionally buried here. David reigned here for seven and a half years before moving to Jerusalem.

Where Jacob dreamed of the ladder reaching heaven and named the place "house of God." Later, Jeroboam set up one of the two golden calves here at the start of the northern kingdom — a recurring failure point in scripture.

The first Canaanite city to fall, with walls that collapsed at the sound of trumpets. One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth; Kathleen Kenyon's excavations dated levels going back to the 8th millennium BC. Jesus later healed blind Bartimaeus here and called Zacchaeus down from the sycamore.

The second Canaanite city Israel attacked, where Achan's sin caused their initial defeat. The identification is contested archaeologically — Et-Tell appears to have been unoccupied at the time of the conquest under either date theory, prompting alternative proposals.

The tabernacle stood here for roughly 300 years before the temple was built. Hannah prayed for Samuel here; the ark was taken from here by the Philistines and never returned. Jeremiah later cited its destruction as a warning to Jerusalem.

The city that tricked Israel into a treaty during the conquest and was thereafter assigned to temple service. Joshua's long day occurred during their defense. Solomon went here to sacrifice before God appeared to him in a dream and granted him wisdom.

Rachel's burial place; Naomi and Ruth's home; David's birthplace and the city of David; and the prophesied birthplace of the Messiah. The Church of the Nativity has stood over the traditional site of Jesus' birth since the fourth century.

The river that separated Israel from the promised land; crossed on dry ground in the conquest; the site of Naaman's healing; the place of John the Baptist's ministry and Jesus' baptism. Flows from the Sea of Galilee south to the Dead Sea.