Key Locations

Every week's overview lists the key locations for that week's readings. The pages gathered here go deeper: what each place was in the first century, what happened there, and a photograph of the site as it looks today. Locations that are not places on a map -- visions, heavenly settings, figures of speech -- are illustrated with historic artwork instead, always labeled as an artist's interpretation.

Places

• Antioch The great city on the Orontes where believers were first called Christians and Paul's missions were launched.
• Armageddon Har-Magedon, the "mount of Megiddo" -- an ancient battlefield lending its name to the last battle.
• Asia Minor The peninsula of modern Turkey -- Paul's mission field, Peter's readers, and the seven churches of Revelation.
• Athens The intellectual capital of the Greek world, where Paul preached the unknown God on the Areopagus.
• Berea The Macedonian town whose synagogue searched the Scriptures daily to test Paul's message.
• Bethany The village of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus on the Mount of Olives, Jesus' Judean home base.
• Bethany Beyond the Jordan The place on the east bank of the Jordan where John was baptizing when he pointed to the Lamb of God.
• Bethlehem The city of David, where Jesus was born in fulfillment of Micah's prophecy.
• Bethsaida The fishing town of Peter, Andrew, and Philip, near where the five thousand were fed.
• Caesarea Maritima Herod's harbor city, Rome's capital in Judea -- home of Cornelius, Philip, and Paul's two-year imprisonment.
• Caesarea Philippi The pagan city at the foot of Mount Hermon where Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ.
• Cana of Galilee The Galilean village where Jesus performed his first sign, turning water to wine at a wedding.
• Capernaum The fishing town on the lake's north shore that became Jesus' adopted home base.
• Chorazin A basalt town in the hills above Capernaum, denounced with Bethsaida for its unbelief.
• Colossae The small Lycus-valley town whose church received the letter exalting Christ over all powers.
• Corinth The rich, rough port on the isthmus where Paul stayed eighteen months and wrote his hardest pastoral letters.
• Crete The great island of Fair Havens and the storm -- and of Titus' hard assignment.
• Cyprus Barnabas' home island and the first stop of the first missionary journey.
• Damascus The ancient Syrian city on whose road Saul met the risen Christ.
• Derbe The frontier town at the far end of the first missionary journey, where "they made many disciples."
• Egypt The land of refuge where the holy family fled from Herod, fulfilling "Out of Egypt I called my son."
• Ephesus The great city of Asia -- Artemis' temple, Paul's three-year ministry, and the first church of Revelation.
• Ephraim The remote village near the wilderness where Jesus withdrew after the Sanhedrin resolved to kill him.
• Galatia The Anatolian province whose churches -- Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe -- received Paul's fieriest letter.
• Galilee The northern hill region where Jesus grew up, based his ministry, and did most of his teaching.
• Gethsemane The olive grove at the foot of the Mount of Olives where Jesus prayed in agony and was arrested.
• Golgotha / Calvary "The Place of the Skull" outside the city wall, where Jesus was crucified.
• Iconium The crossroads city of Lycaonia where "a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed."
• Jericho The oasis city near the Jordan where Jesus healed blind Bartimaeus and called Zacchaeus down from his tree.
• Jerusalem The holy city -- David's capital, the temple's home, the stage of the crucifixion, resurrection, and Pentecost.
• Joppa The old port of Jerusalem, where Peter raised Tabitha and saw the vision of the sheet.
• Lystra The Lycaonian town that hailed Paul as a god, then stoned him -- and gave him Timothy.
• Macedonia The northern Greek province -- Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea -- famous for generosity out of poverty.
• Machaerus Herod's clifftop fortress east of the Dead Sea, where John the Baptist was imprisoned and beheaded.
• Malta The island where the shipwreck survivors wintered, the viper failed, and the sick were healed.
• Miletus The port south of Ephesus where Paul gave his tearful farewell to the Ephesian elders.
• Mount Sinai The mountain of the law and the wilderness around it -- the covenant the New Testament reads Christ against.
• Nain The small Galilean town where Jesus raised a widow's only son at the town gate.
• Nazareth The small Galilean hill town where Jesus grew up, so obscure it is never named in the Old Testament.
• Patmos The small Aegean island of John's exile, where the Revelation was received.
• Perea The territory "beyond the Jordan" where Jesus ministered on his final approach to Jerusalem.
• Philippi The Roman colony in Macedonia -- Lydia, the jailer, the midnight hymns, and Paul's most joyful letter.
• Pisidian Antioch The Roman colony in the Anatolian highlands where Paul preached his first recorded sermon.
• Rome The capital of the empire -- Paul's destination, his prison, and the "Babylon" from which Peter wrote.
• Samaria / Sychar The Samaritan town at Jacob's well, where Jesus offered a foreign woman living water.
• Spain Paul's intended western frontier -- the edge of the known world, and the measure of his unfinished ambition.
• The Country of the Gerasenes Gentile territory on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus freed the man among the tombs.
• The Decapolis The league of ten Greek cities east of the Jordan, Gentile territory that heard the gospel early.
• The Garden Tomb The new rock-hewn tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, found empty on the third day.
• The Gaza Road The desert road toward Gaza where Philip baptized the Ethiopian eunuch.
• The High Priest's House Where Jesus faced the Sanhedrin by night and Peter denied him in the courtyard.
• The Hill Country of Judea The terraced hills west of Jerusalem where Mary visited Elizabeth and the Magnificat was sung.
• The Jordan River The river of Israel's crossings and cleansings, where John baptized and Jesus was baptized.
• The Judean Wilderness The barren desert between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea where Jesus fasted forty days and faced the tempter.
• The Mediterranean Sea The Great Sea -- highway of the missionary journeys, and the stage of Paul's storm and shipwreck.
• The Mount of Beatitudes The hillside above the Sea of Galilee where tradition places the Sermon on the Mount.
• The Mount of Olives The ridge east of Jerusalem -- route of the triumphal entry, seat of the Olivet Discourse, and place of the ascension.
• The Mount of Transfiguration The high mountain where Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James, and John.
• The Pool of Bethesda The twin pools by Jerusalem's Sheep Gate where Jesus healed a man lame for thirty-eight years.
• The Pool of Siloam The pool at the south end of Jerusalem where the man born blind washed and came back seeing.
• The Praetorium The Roman governor's headquarters in Jerusalem, where Pilate tried Jesus -- and later the garrison that held Paul.
• The Road to Emmaus The seven-mile walk on which the risen Christ opened the Scriptures to two downcast disciples.
• The Sea of Galilee The freshwater lake at the heart of Jesus' ministry, ringed by fishing towns and sudden storms.
• The Temple in Jerusalem The center of Israel's worship, rebuilt on a massive scale by Herod the Great.
• The Upper Room The large furnished room in Jerusalem where the Last Supper was eaten and the disciples waited for Pentecost.
• Thessalonica Macedonia's capital, where a few weeks of preaching planted a model church -- and a riot.
• Troas The Aegean port where Paul saw the Macedonian vision -- and where Eutychus fell from the window.
• Tyre and Sidon The ancient Phoenician port cities northwest of Galilee, where Jesus met the Syrophoenician woman.

Beyond the Map

• Babylon the Great Revelation's symbolic city -- human power and luxury organized against God, destined to fall in a single hour.
• Canaan The promised land -- and, in Hebrews, the shadow of a better rest still open to the people of God.
• Eden The garden where the story began -- the backdrop for Paul's Adam-and-Christ theology.
• Heaven / Eternity The eternal dwelling of God, where John's Gospel begins before time and space existed.
• The Diaspora The Jewish communities scattered among the nations -- the "twelve tribes in the Dispersion" to whom James wrote.
• The Heavenly Tabernacle The true sanctuary where Christ ministers, of which Moses' tent was the earthly copy.
• The New Jerusalem The holy city coming down out of heaven -- the Jerusalem above, Mount Zion, God's eternal dwelling with his people.
• The Olive Tree Paul's image for the one people of God -- natural branches, wild grafts, and a root that carries them all.