Places in the Bible Today:

Seirah

Data

Translated NamesSeirah, Seirath
Typenatural area
Noteslikely somewhere in Ephraim west of the Jordan River; could be a settlement
Geo Data KML (for Google Earth)
GeoJSON (for GIS applications)

4 Possible Identifications

  1. in the hills of Ephraim (modern): 50% confidence

    1. some of the hills of Ephraimin the hills of Ephraim

  2. not a proper name (wooded area): 20% confidence
  3. in the Jordan Valley (ancient): 15% confidence

    1. panorama of the Jordan Valleyin the Jordan Valley

  4. in Moab 1 (ancient): less than 10% confidence

    1. panorama of a wadi in Moab 1in Moab 1

Verses (2)

Judg 3:26, 3:27

Linked Data Identifiers

SourceIdentifier
Logos FactbookSeirah
OpenBible.info (2007)Seirah
OpenBible.infoa1aff30 (Seirah)
TIPNRSeirah@Jdg.3.26
UBS Names Databaseot ID_2761

Sources

  1. Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (1992): Seirah (place)
  2. Baker Illustrated Bible Dictionary (2013): Seirah
  3. Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000): Seirah
  4. Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (2003)
  5. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1979): Seirah
  6. Lexham Bible Dictionary (2016): Seirah
  7. Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary (2014): Seirah
  8. New Interpreter’s Bible Dictionary (2009)
  9. New Unger’s Bible Dictionary (1988): Seirah
  10. Zondervan Atlas of the Bible (2010)
  11. Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible (2010)

Confidence Trends over Time

This chart indicates how confidence in the identifications is changing over time. Each dot (connected by a dotted line) reflects the confidence of an identification over the preceding ten years (e.g., the 2009 dot reflects scholarship from 2000 to 2009), and the corresponding solid line reflects a best-fit line for the identification. Confidences that cluster near or below 0% indicate low confidence. Because of the small dataset, it's best to use this chart for general trends; if one identification is trending much higher than the others, for example, then you can probably have higher confidence in the identification. This chart only reflects the sources I consulted (listed above), not an exhaustive review of the literature.

Thumbnail Image Credits

Basheer.f, Bukvoed, Adeeb Atwan

About

This page attempts to identify all the possible locations where this biblical place could be. The confidence levels add up to less than 100%, indicating that the modern location is uncertain. It's best to think about the confidences in relative rather than absolute terms. Often they reflect different schools of thought, each confident in their identifications.

The isobands you see on the map (gray areas with dark borders) attempt to give you confidence where a region is. Because many ancient regions aren't precisely defined, I consulted atlases to determine where the biblical region is located and used that data to build the isobands. The smaller isobands reflect more confidence that the given isoband is in the region, while the larger isobands reflect less confidence. Isobands are a kind of contour line that here indicate confidence levels.