The Dead Sea (Salt Sea)
יָם הַמֶּלַח
Where is the Dead Sea? Between Israel and Jordan. I mark it certain.
Four kings fought five in the Valley of Siddim, which Genesis identifies with the Salt Sea, and carried Lot away as a captive.
By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker
- Site today
- The Dead Sea, between Israel and Jordan
- How sure
- Certain The name, the sources and the finds all agree.
- Other names
- Sea of the Arabah, Lake Asphaltites, Bahr Lut, Yam HaMelach
- Location
- 31.4985° N, 35.4797° E (Google Maps)
How we know where it was
In Hebrew it was never the Dead Sea. It is Yam HaMelach, the Salt Sea. The Greeks called it dead because nothing lives in it. Its water is about ten times saltier than the ocean.
No other lake fits the Bible. The Jordan empties into it. It is "the Sea of the Aravah," at the low end of the rift. It anchors the corner where the Land's southern border begins. Josephus called it Lake Asphaltites. The Arabic name Bahr Lut, the Sea of Lot, still ties it to Sodom.
I filmed the Walking Tanach short Why Is the Dead Sea Dead? on the shore. The green oasis of Ein Gedi sits right beside it, and the only difference is fresh water. The Jordan brings down the same water that keeps the Kinneret sweet. But the Salt Sea is a dead end. The summer heat takes the water and leaves the salt behind, and over thousands of years the salt has built up. It only receives. If you don't appreciate, you depreciate.
Ezekiel saw this water healed, full of fish, with fishermen spreading their nets from Ein Gedi. That vision only makes sense on this lake.
The map also names the larger pieces of the land: the regions the Tanach speaks of as whole districts, the nations on its edges, and the roads that tied them together. These are easier to place than most towns. The names of the regions mostly never left their hills and valleys. The roads followed the ridges and the wadis, and those haven't moved either.
Watch: Why is the Dead Sea Dead
Bonus clip, filmed on the shore. Why the Kinneret gives life and the Salt Sea does not.
Visiting today
The Israeli shore is easy to visit, at Qumran, Ein Gedi, Masada and Ein Bokek. The southern basin is now evaporation ponds. I filmed the bonus clip Why is the Dead Sea Dead on the shore.
Read it in the Bible
Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.
See Salt Sea on the interactive map →
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Get the print + free ebookNearby places
- En Gedi (Ein Gedi) 9 km southwest
- Dibon 28 km east
- Tekoa 30 km northwest
- Aroer on the Arnon 33 km east
- Ziph 33 km west
- Carmel in Judah 34 km west