Uzal
Uzal is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Arabia. Known today as Sanaa. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
Uzal appears in the Table of Nations in Genesis 10:27, listed as a son of Joktan, one of the sons of Eber in the Semitic genealogy. Joktan's descendants are consistently associated with the Arabian Peninsula, making Uzal one of the ancestral names used to account for the diverse peoples of Arabia. Ezekiel 27:19 contains what appears to be a reference to Uzal in the lament over Tyre, describing merchants from Wedan and Javan, or possibly Uzal, bringing wrought iron, cassia, and sweet cane to Tyre's markets. The precise Hebrew text of this verse is debated, but the trading commodities mentioned align well with products associated with southern Arabia, including spices and metalwork. Uzal is most widely identified with the ancient city of Sanaa, now the capital of Yemen, though the ancient form of the name was preserved in the form Azal or Ausalis in classical geographical sources. The mention of Uzal within the Table of Nations situates it within the biblical vision of a world populated by the descendants of Shem, all ultimately bound together under the providential governance of the one God who created and disperses the nations.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Uzal is traditionally identified with Sanaa, the highland capital of modern Yemen, known in antiquity by the name Azal or a similar form. Classical geographers including Ptolemy reference a city by a name corresponding to the ancient Uzal in the South Arabian highlands. Sanaa has been continuously occupied since antiquity, and archaeological investigation has revealed pre-Islamic occupation layers, though systematic excavation beneath the medieval old city is limited. The broader Sabaean civilization of Yemen left extensive inscriptional and architectural evidence across the region. The spice and commodity trade referenced in Ezekiel 27 is consistent with South Arabian involvement in the ancient Mediterranean trade network, well-documented in Sabaean records.
Verse Appearances (1)
Ezek
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]