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Middle Bronze Age setting · Genesis 11:31 - 13:4

Abraham's migration

From southern Mesopotamia to the hill country of Canaan, and down into Egypt

SINAIGOSHENNEGEVJUDEASAMARIAGALILEEPEREADECAPOLISMOABEDOMAMMONGILEADBASHANPHOENICIASYRIAARABIAMESOPOTAMIABABYLONIAASSYRIAASIA MINORCYPRUSThe Great Sea (Mediterranean)Gulf of AqabaGulf of SuezNileEuphratesTigrisJordanSea of GalileeDead Sea1Ur2Haran3Damascus4Shechem5Bethel6Beersheba7Goshen8HebronN200 km

8 stops · roughly 2,283 km end to end

Click any stop to see a photograph of the site as it stands today.

Stop by stop

  1. 1

    Ur

    Genesis 11:31

    The family's starting point in the south of Mesopotamia.

  2. 2

    Haran

    Genesis 11:31-32
    925 km from Ur

    The caravan town where Terah settled and died.

  3. 3

    Damascus

    Genesis 15:2
    448 km from Haran

    On the road south; Eliezer of Damascus later appears in the household.

  4. 4

    Shechem

    Genesis 12:6
    173 km from Damascus

    First stop in Canaan, at the oak of Moreh.

  5. 5

    Bethel

    Genesis 12:8
    32 km from Shechem

    Camp between Bethel and Ai; an altar built.

  6. 6

    Beersheba

    Genesis 21:31
    84 km from Bethel

    Wells dug at the southern edge of the settled land.

  7. 7

    Goshen

    Genesis 12:10
    295 km from Beersheba

    Down into Egypt during the famine.

  8. 8

    Hebron

    Genesis 13:18; 23:19
    326 km from Goshen

    Settled by the oaks of Mamre; the cave of Machpelah bought here.

What the record fixes

The named towns are excavated sites: Ur, Haran, Shechem, Bethel and Hebron all have occupation in the periods concerned. No inscription names Abraham, and the route between the towns is inferred from the caravan roads that the sites sit on.