Places in the Bible Today:

Gebal 2

Data

Translated NamesByblos, Gebal, Gebalites
Typesregion or settlement
NotesMoore, Judges (1895) says, "the mountain range east of the Arabah, from the southern end of the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqabah, now called in its northern part El-Gibal"
Geo Data KML (for Google Earth)
GeoJSON (for GIS applications)

3 Possible Identifications

  1. between the Dead Sea and Petra (modern): 55% confidence
    1. panorama of hills in the region between the Dead Sea and Petrabetween the Dead Sea and Petra

  2. another name for Gebal 1 (ancient): 25% confidence
    1. panorama of ruins at ByblosByblos

  3. another name for Teman (ancient): 15% confidence. It may be:
    1. satellite view of the region around TawilanTawilan

    2. ruins at Buseiraabout 30 km around Buseira

    3. ruins at BuseiraEdom

    4. ruins at BuseiraBuseira

    5. building at CarcariaCarcaria

    6. ruins at UdruhUdruh

    7. satellite view of the region around GharandalGharandal

    8. satellite view of the region around TuwanehTuwaneh

    9. streetscape of Ma’anMa’an

Verses (1)

Ps 83:7

Linked Data Identifiers

SourceIdentifier
Logos FactbookGebal (Region)
OpenBible.info (2007)Gebal
OpenBible.infoa59b2e2 (Gebal 2)
TIPNRGebal@Jos.13.5
UBS Names Databaseot ID_667

Sources

  1. Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (1992): Gebal (place)
  2. Baker Illustrated Bible Dictionary (2013): Byblos
  3. Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000): Gebal
  4. Expositor’s Bible Commentary (1984): Ps 83:6-7
  5. Grollenberg, Atlas of the Bible (1957): Gebal
  6. HarperCollins Bible Dictionary (2011): Gebal
  7. Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (2003)
  8. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1979): Gebal
  9. IVP Old Testament Bible Background Commentary (2000): Ps 83:6-8
  10. Lexham Bible Dictionary (2016): Gebal (Region)
  11. Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary (2014): Gebal
  12. New Bible Dictionary (1996): Gebal
  13. New Unger’s Bible Dictionary (1988)
  14. Tyndale Bible Dictionary (2001): Gebal
  15. Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia (1975): Gebal
  16. Zondervan Atlas of the Bible (2010)
  17. Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible (2010)
  18. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary (2009): Ps 83:5-8

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, between the Dead Sea and Petra), 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

Zairon, Jerzy Strzelecki, Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2019, Uri, H.P. Frei, Bashar Tabbah, 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.