Tel-melah
Tel-melah is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Mesopotamia in modern-day Iraq. Known today as Nippur. It appears across 2 verses in Scripture.
Biblical History
Tel-melah appears in two parallel passages in the Old Testament, paired consistently with Tel-harsha in lists of exilic settlements. In Ezra 2:59 and Nehemiah 7:61, returning exiles who came from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer were unable to demonstrate their Israelite lineage from the family registers. The name Tel-melah means 'mound of salt' or 'salt hill' in Hebrew, possibly indicating a location near salt flats or salt marshes along one of Mesopotamia's brackish waterways. In the ancient Near East, salt regions were often economically significant areas used for food preservation and trade. The mention of Tel-melah in these post-exilic lists reflects the breadth of the Jewish diaspora under Babylonian rule — communities scattered across diverse geographical settings who, after decades in exile, answered Cyrus's decree (Ezra 1:1-4) and made the journey back to Judah. Their difficulty proving lineage speaks to the disruptions of deportation and the challenge of maintaining records across generations of exile.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Tel-melah has not been positively identified with a known archaeological site, but scholarly consensus places it somewhere in the alluvial plains of southern Mesopotamia, near ancient Nippur in present-day Iraq. The name's reference to salt is consistent with the geography of the lower Tigris-Euphrates basin, where salt flats and marshlands are common. Archaeological investigation in the region has demonstrated the presence of Jewish communities during the Neo-Babylonian and Persian periods, as evidenced by the Murashu Archive from Nippur and other cuneiform sources. These documents confirm Jewish settlers engaged in agriculture, herding, and commerce throughout the Babylonian heartland during the exile period.
Verse Appearances (2)
Sources: ISBE Encyclopedia · OpenBible Geocoding (CC BY) · Pleiades Gazetteer View all →