Map

Where Jesus walked.

The towns, the lake and the roads of his ministry, and the teachings that happened in each place. The gospels do not agree on how long it lasted: the Gospel of John names three Passovers, the Gospel of Mark names one. So the journeys are grouped the way the gospels tell them, not by year.

Map of the places Jesus went during his ministry Galilee, Samaria, Judea, Perea, the Decapolis and the coast, with the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan and the Dead Sea. Each marker is a place; select one to list the teachings that happen there. The same list is written out below the map. GALILEESAMARIAJUDEAPEREADECAPOLISGAULANITISPHOENICIACOASTAL PLAINThe Great SeaDead SeaJordanLake Huleh

The order the gospel tells it, not exact roads 7A teaching, by its number in the app

Every place, in the order the gospels tell it

John 1–2Around the first Passover

  • The Jordan, at Bethany beyond the Jordan John 1:28; Mark 1:9
  • Cana John 2:1–11; 4:46–54
  • Capernaum Mark 1:21; 2:1; Matthew 4:13; 5:1; John 2:12
  • Jerusalem John 2:13–25; 5:1–9; Mark 11–15; Luke 24:33

John 4Through Samaria

Mark 1–6Galilee: Capernaum and the lake

Mark 7–8North to Tyre, Sidon and Caesarea Philippi

  • Bethsaida Luke 9:10; Mark 6:45; 8:22–26; John 1:44
  • Tyre Mark 7:24–30; Matthew 15:21–28
  • Sidon Mark 7:31
  • Caesarea Philippi Mark 8:27–30; Matthew 16:13–20

Luke 9:51–19:28The road to Jerusalem

Mark 11–15The last week

Luke 24, John 21After the tomb

  • The Sea of Galilee Mark 4:35–41; 6:47–51; John 21:1–14
  • Jerusalem John 2:13–25; 5:1–9; Mark 11–15; Luke 24:33
  • Emmaus Luke 24:13–35
Sources and the places we are not sure of
  • No years. The Gospel of John names three Passovers (2:13, 6:4, 11:55); the Gospel of Mark names one (14:1), and the first three gospels read like a single year. The phases here follow the order each gospel gives, labeled by the gospel they come from.
  • Cana. Two candidates: Khirbet Qana, on a hill north of the Beit Netofa valley, and Kafr Kanna, near Nazareth, the pilgrim site since the Middle Ages. The marker is at Khirbet Qana, which most recent excavation and scholarship favor.
  • Bethsaida. Placed at et-Tell, about 1.5 miles from the shore. El-Araj, at the water's edge, has been excavated since 2016 and is argued by its excavators to be the town. Both sit east of the Jordan inlet, in Philip's land.
  • The feeding of the crowd. Luke 9:10 puts it near Bethsaida; John 6:1 says only "the other side of the sea"; Mark 6:45 sends the disciples on to Bethsaida afterward. The traditional church at Tabgha is on the northwest shore. We follow Luke. The teaching on the crowd that wanted to make him king begins on that hillside and ends before Pilate in Jerusalem; it is placed where it begins.
  • Gadara, Gerasa or Gergesa. The manuscripts differ: the Gospels of Mark and Luke say the country of the Gerasenes, the Gospel of Matthew of the Gadarenes, and Origen argued for Gergesa. Gerasa (Jerash) is about 35 miles from the lake and Gadara (Umm Qais) about 6, while the story needs a steep slope into the water. The marker is at Kursi on the eastern shore, the usual identification of Gergesa.
  • The sermon on the hillside. Matthew 5:1 says only "a mountain," and Luke 6:17 "a level place." The Mount of Beatitudes above Tabgha, just west of Capernaum, is a Byzantine-era tradition. The three sermon teachings are listed under Capernaum for that reason.
  • Sychar and Jacob's well. The well at Bir Ya'qub, by Nablus, is one of the steadier traditions. Sychar itself is usually placed at the village of Askar, about half a mile away; some place it at old Shechem (Tell Balata).
  • The Samaritan village. Luke 9:52 does not name it. The marker is illustrative, near Ginae (modern Jenin), the border town where Josephus says Galileans entered Samaria on the way to the feasts (Antiquities 20.118).
  • Bethany beyond the Jordan. John 1:28 (some manuscripts read Bethabara). Placed at the traditional baptism site, Al-Maghtas and Qasr al-Yahud, near Jericho. Not the same place as Bethany by Jerusalem.
  • The road to Jericho. The Good Samaritan is a story he told, not a journey. the Gospel of Luke does not say where he told it; the marker sits on the road the story is set on, by the ascent of Adummim.
  • Jericho. First-century Jericho, with Herod's winter palaces, is at Tulul Abu el-Alayiq on the Wadi Qelt, about a mile from the older mound of Tell es-Sultan.
  • Jerusalem. The temple courts, the upstairs room, Gethsemane and Golgotha are a mile apart at most and share one marker. The house of the last meal is unnamed (Mark 14:15); the Cenacle on Mount Zion is a later tradition. Gethsemane is "a place" across the Kidron (Mark 14:32, John 18:1). Golgotha is placed at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the tradition since the 4th century; the Garden Tomb is a 19th-century proposal. The Gospel of John puts the scene at the money tables at the first Passover (2:13-16); the Gospels of Mark and Matthew, which our teaching follows, put it in the last week.
  • Emmaus. Luke 24:13 says about 60 stadia, roughly seven miles, from Jerusalem (some manuscripts say 160). Candidates are el-Qubeibeh, Abu Ghosh, Motza and Emmaus Nicopolis. The marker is at el-Qubeibeh, which fits the 60.
  • Chorazin, Nain, Capernaum. Khirbet Karazeh (its visible ruins are mostly later), the village of Nein below the hill of Moreh, and Tell Hum, all widely accepted. Tyre, Sidon and Caesarea Philippi (Banias) are certain.
  • Teachings not on the map. Some teachings tell several places, or none: the Sabbath days (a grain field, a pool in Jerusalem, a meeting house), Mercy, not sacrifice (a dinner, a field, the temple), the leper ("one of the towns," Mark 1:40), the bent woman (an unnamed meeting house, Luke 13:10), the prodigal son (a story with no place), and the teachings about the old books, the valley of Hinnom, Jerusalem's many names and what came after. They are not given a place they do not have.
  • The land. Coastline, lakes and the Jordan are simplified from modern charts. Lake Huleh, drained in the 1950s, is shown as it was. District edges are approximate, after Luke 3:1 and Josephus, Jewish War 3.35-58.