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Ziph

cityOld TestamentJudea5 verses
Today Tell ZifCountry IsraelCoordinates 31.475, 35.135

Ziph is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Judea in modern-day Israel. Known today as Tell Zif. It appears across 5 verses in Scripture.

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Authority Records
Archaeological Data
Occupation Phases
Iron Age I-II1150 BCE – 539 BCE
Iron Age IIa980 BCE – 830 BCE
Iron Age II980 BCE – 539 BCE
Iron Age IIb830 BCE – 720 BCE
Iron Age IIb-c830 BCE – 539 BCE
Iron Age IIc720 BCE – 539 BCE
Iron Age III (Persian)539 BCE – 333 BCE
Hellenistic333 BCE – 63 BCE
Roman63 BCE – 324 CE
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

Ziph in the Judean hill country plays a memorable role in the narratives of David's flight from Saul. Listed in Joshua 15:55 among the towns of the Judean highland district, it appears dramatically in 1 Samuel 23:14-15 when David hid in the wilderness of Ziph while being pursued by Saul. The Ziphites proved disloyal to David, twice betraying his location to Saul (1 Samuel 23:19; 26:1), prompting David's bitter lament preserved in the superscription of Psalm 54. Yet even in this dangerous terrain, Jonathan met David in the wilderness of Ziph to strengthen his hand in God (1 Samuel 23:16), one of the most touching scenes of covenantal friendship in Scripture. Later, Ziph appears in 2 Chronicles 11:8 as one of the cities fortified by Rehoboam, indicating its continued strategic value in the Judean hills. A famous jar handle stamped with the inscription "belonging to the king" and the place name "Ziph" found at Tell Zif provides rare epigraphic confirmation of this site's administrative role in the late monarchy period.

Archaeological & Historical Notes

Tell Zif, located approximately eight kilometers southeast of Hebron in the Judean hills, is the most widely accepted identification for the hill-country Ziph. The site is especially notable for the discovery of lmlk (belonging to the king) jar handles stamped with the name "Ziph," providing direct epigraphic evidence linking the tell to the biblical city. These handles date to the 8th-7th centuries BC and indicate that Ziph was an administrative center involved in royal wine or oil distribution. Surface surveys and limited excavations have confirmed Iron Age occupation at the site. The surrounding wilderness terrain, characterized by rugged limestone ridges and natural caves, corresponds well to the biblical description of David hiding in the wilderness of Ziph.

Verse Appearances (5)

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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