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Jezreel

cityOld TestamentJudea1 verse
Today YattaCountry IsraelCoordinates 31.448, 35.090

Jezreel is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Judea in modern-day Israel. Known today as Yatta. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.

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Archaeological Data
Occupation Phases
Chalcolithic4500 BCE – 3800 BCE
Early Bronze Age IV/Middle Bronze Age I/Int. Bronze2500 BCE – 2000 BCE
Middle Bronze Age II-III1750 BCE – 1550 BCE
Iron Age IIb830 BCE – 720 BCE
Iron Age IIc720 BCE – 539 BCE
Iron Age III (Persian)539 BCE – 333 BCE
Hellenistic333 BCE – 63 BCE
Early Roman63 BCE – 70 CE
Late Roman70 CE – 324 CE
Byzantine324 CE – 638 CE
UnitoAssyrianGovernance, Villages to Empires Dataset (CC BY 4.0), doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732

Biblical History

This Jezreel, distinct from the more famous northern city, was a town in the hill country of Judah allotted to the tribe of Judah during the division of the Promised Land. It appears in Joshua 15:56 within a list of towns in the Judean highlands near Maon, Carmel, and Ziph. This southern Jezreel is significant primarily because of its connection to David. Ahinoam of Jezreel became one of David's wives, first mentioned during his years as a fugitive from Saul (1 Samuel 25:43; 27:3). She accompanied David to Gath when he sought refuge among the Philistines and was among those captured by the Amalekites in the raid on Ziklag, before David rescued her (1 Samuel 30:5). Ahinoam bore David's firstborn son Amnon at Hebron (2 Samuel 3:2). The town's location in the same hill country region where David hid from Saul suggests that David may have encountered Ahinoam during this turbulent period. Though a small settlement, Jezreel of Judah contributed to the lineage of Israel's greatest king.

Archaeological & Historical Notes

This southern Jezreel has been tentatively identified with Khirbet Tarrama or with a site near the modern town of Yatta in the southern Hebron hills. The identification is based on the geographical context provided by Joshua 15:56, which places it among towns in the vicinity of Maon and Carmel (Khirbet el-Kirmil). The region is characterized by rolling hills suitable for pastoralism and limited agriculture, consistent with the rural character of David's early years in this area. Archaeological surveys of the southern Hebron highlands have documented numerous small Iron Age settlements, reflecting the pattern of village life described in the biblical narratives. No specific excavation has confirmed the precise location of this Jezreel, and its identification remains a matter of scholarly discussion.

Verse Appearances (1)

References

  1. Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
  2. OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
  3. Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
  4. Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
  5. Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
  6. Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]

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