Chinnereth
Chinnereth is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Galilee in modern-day Israel. Known today as Tel Kinrot. It appears across 4 verses in Scripture.
Biblical History
Chinnereth was a fortified city on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee whose name was applied to the body of water itself, the Sea of Chinnereth, as the Galilee lake is called throughout the Old Testament (Num 34:11; Josh 12:3; 13:27). The name possibly derives from the Hebrew word for harp, kinnor, perhaps reflecting the harp-like shape of the lake. Chinnereth appears in Joshua 11:2 among the kings defeated by Joshua, indicating it was a significant Canaanite royal city. It is listed again in Joshua 19:35 as a fortified city within the allotment of Naphtali. During the divided monarchy, Chinnereth was captured by Ben-hadad of Aram at the instigation of Asa of Judah (1 Kgs 15:20), demonstrating its continued strategic value in controlling the northern approaches to Israel. The city's proximity to the fertile lake shore and major trade routes made it a perpetually contested prize throughout the biblical period.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Chinnereth is identified with Tel Kinrot (Tel el-Oreimeh), a prominent mound on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, excavated by Israeli and German teams in multiple campaigns since the 1980s. Excavations have uncovered impressive Iron Age I and II fortifications, storage facilities, and domestic structures indicating a prosperous and well-organized urban settlement. Evidence of destruction layers correlates with historical events such as the Aramean campaign of Ben-hadad. The tell also yielded Late Bronze Age remains, confirming Chinnereth was a Canaanite city before the Israelite period. The site is now within the bounds of Kibbutz Ginnosar, and ongoing excavations continue to shed light on daily life in biblical-era Galilee.
Verse Appearances (13)
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]