The life of Christ

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.

David captured the Jebusite stronghold and made it his capital. Solomon built the first temple; Babylon destroyed it in 586 BC; Zerubbabel and Ezra/Nehemiah rebuilt; Herod expanded; Rome destroyed it again in AD 70. The center of redemptive history through every era — including the crucifixion, resurrection, and Pentecost.

Capital of the northern kingdom from Omri to its fall to Assyria in 722 BC. Lasted as a Hellenistic, then Roman city (renamed Sebaste by Herod). The region of Samaria became home to the Samaritans, whose well Jesus met the woman at. Philip preached the gospel here in Acts.

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.

Jesus' boyhood town in lower Galilee, where Gabriel announced his birth to Mary and where he was rejected when he announced his ministry. Not mentioned in the Old Testament — Nathanael's question ('can any good thing come out of Nazareth?') reflects its obscurity.

The base of operations for Jesus' Galilean ministry — "his own city" (Matt 9:1). Site of Peter's mother-in-law's healing, the paralytic let down through the roof, the centurion's servant, and the bread of life discourse. Ruins of a 4th-century synagogue likely stand over the foundations of the one where Jesus taught.

A freshwater lake about 13 miles long and 8 wide, ringed with fishing villages in Jesus' day. Called the Sea of Tiberias and Lake of Gennesaret as well. The setting of the calling of the first disciples, the calming of the storm, Jesus walking on water, and the post-resurrection breakfast with Peter.

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.

The ridge east of Jerusalem from which Jesus made his triumphal entry, where he taught the Olivet Discourse, where he prayed in Gethsemane the night before his crucifixion, and from which he ascended to heaven. Zechariah prophesies his return here.

The garden of olive trees at the foot of the Mount of Olives where Jesus prayed before his arrest, sweating great drops of blood. The name means "oil press" — fitting for the place where the Messiah was crushed.

The "place of a skull" where Jesus was crucified, just outside the city walls. The traditional site is preserved under the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; nineteenth-century Protestants proposed an alternative location north of the Damascus Gate ("Gordon's Calvary").

Capital of the empire and goal of Paul's long ambition to preach the gospel. He reached the city as a prisoner under house arrest, eventually dying as a martyr under Nero. Romans was written before he had ever been there. Tradition holds Peter also died here, crucified upside down at his request.