Jokneam (Yokneam)
יָקְנְעָם
Where was biblical Jokneam? At Tel Yokneam, beside Yokneam Illit, about 18 km southeast of Haifa. I mark it very likely.
Joshua defeated the Canaanite king of Jokneam. Later the town went to the Levites, on the border of Zebulun.
By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker
- Site today
- Tel Yokneam, beside Yokneam Illit
- How sure
- Very likely Strong evidence, with no serious rival.
- Other names
- Jokneam of Carmel, Tell Qeimun, Cammona, Caymont
- Location
- 32.6642° N, 35.1088° E (Google Maps)
How we know where it was
The Bible gives the address. It calls the town "Jokneam of the Carmel." Zebulun's border runs along "the wadi facing Jokneam," and the Kishon flows right past the tel. So you look for a town at the foot of the Carmel, on the Kishon, at the edge of the valley. Tel Yokneam is exactly there.
The name survived too, bent a little by every language that carried it. Pharaoh Thutmose III lists the town. Eusebius calls it Cammona. The Crusaders called it Caymont. The Arabic name of the mound was Tell Qeimun. Each one is the old name in a new accent.
The geography also explains why a Canaanite king ruled here. The mound guards the pass where the coastal highway crossed from the Sharon into the Jezreel Valley, between the Carmel and the hills of Lower Galilee. Whoever held Jokneam held that gate. Excavators found the mound lived on from the Bronze Age to Mamluk times, with substantial Iron Age levels.
The case rests on the name and the geography together. Both point to this one mound.
Visiting today
Tel Yokneam is a large mound beside the modern town. Access is informal.
Read it in the Bible
Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.
See Yokneam on the interactive map →
The whole Land on your wall
A hand-drawn map of Biblical Israel, with more than 160 places from Dan to Kadesh Barnea, printed on archival matte paper.
Free with every print: a companion ebook on every place on the map, a $19.99 value.
From $49.99 · Free US shipping
Get the print + free ebookNearby places
- Megiddo 11 km southeast
- Mount Carmel 13 km northwest
- Taanach 19 km southeast
- Dor 19 km west
- Harosheth Haggoyim 20 km south
- Aphek in Asher 20 km north