Places in the Bible Today:

Red Sea 3

Data

Translated NamesRed Sea, Red sea
Typesbody of water or river
NotesGulf of Suez
Geo Data KML (for Google Earth)
GeoJSON (for GIS applications)

3 Possible Identifications

  1. Gulf of Suez (modern): 80% confidence

    1. sunset on the Gulf of SuezGulf of Suez

  2. another name for the Red Sea 1 (ancient): less than 10% confidence. It may be:

    1. panorama of the Great Bitter LakeBitter Lakes

    2. sunset on the Gulf of SuezGulf of Suez

    3. panorama of Lake TimsahLake Timsah

    4. panorama of the Suez Canal at the former Ballah LakesBallah Lakes

    5. workers at Lake ManzalaLake Manzala

    6. ruins at Qantir along the Pelusiac branch of the NilePelusiac branch of the Nile

    7. closeup of Lake BardawilLake Bardawil

    8. panorama of the Gulf of AqabaGulf of Aqaba

  3. Gulf of Aqaba (modern): less than 10% confidence

    1. panorama of the Gulf of AqabaGulf of Aqaba

Verses (3)

  1. Exod 10:19
  2. Num 33:10, 33:11

Linked Data Identifiers

SourceIdentifier
Logos FactbookRed Sea
OpenBible.info (2007)Red Sea
OpenBible.infoa3ba698 (Red Sea 3)
TIPNRRed_Sea@Exo.10.19
UBS Names Databaseot ID_1366
WikipediaYam Suph (partial)

Sources

  1. Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (1992)
  2. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1979)
  3. Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary (2014): Red Sea
  4. New Bible Dictionary (1996)
  5. New Interpreter’s Bible Dictionary (2009)
  6. Tyndale Bible Dictionary (2001)
  7. Zondervan Atlas of the Bible (2010)
  8. 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 (in this case, Gulf of Suez), 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.

Places with Similar Names

Thumbnail Image Credits

youssef_alam, ديفيد عادل وهبة خليل 2, Banja-Frans Mulder, ---=XEON=---, Eman Shokry Hesham, Iri-en-achti, MEDASSET, mikkelsaar

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.