The Hill Country of Judah

הַר יְהוּדָה · “Judean Mountains” on the map

Where is the Hill Country of Judah? From Jerusalem south through Hebron to the Negev. I mark it certain.

Caleb, at eighty-five, asked for the hills where the giants lived and took Hebron from them. These hills became the heartland of Judah, home to Bethlehem, to Hebron and finally to Jerusalem.

By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker

Site today
From Jerusalem south through Hebron to the Negev
How sure
Certain The name, the sources and the finds all agree.
Other names
Judean Hills, Har Yehudah, Mountains of Judah, Hebron Hills
Location
31.3562° N, 34.9800° E (Google Maps)
The Hill Country of Judah on the hand-drawn Map of Biblical Israel
Judean Mountains on our hand-drawn Map of Biblical Israel. Get the full map as a print →

How we know where it was

Har Yehudah, the hill country of Judah, is the Bible's own name for these highlands. The Book of Joshua divides Judah into zones: the Negev, the Shephelah, the hill country and the wilderness. The hill country is the high spine between the lowland and the desert.

The town lists match the ridge. Almost all the hill-country towns, from Jattir and Debir to Hebron and Beth-zur, sit along it. Hebron, about a thousand meters up, is its heart. David reigned there as king of Judah before he ever ruled from Jerusalem.

Visiting today

Route 60 runs down the spine through Bethlehem, Gush Etzion and Hebron, past terraced hills and ancient tels.

Read it in the Bible

Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.

See Judean Mountains on the interactive map →

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