The Sea of Galilee (Kinneret)
יָם כִּנֶּרֶת · “Kineret” on the map
Where is the Sea of Galilee? In the northern Jordan Valley. I mark it certain.
Moses named this lake as a border of the Land, the place where the Jordan pauses on its way south to the Salt Sea.
By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker
- Site today
- The Sea of Galilee, northern Jordan Valley
- How sure
- Certain The name, the sources and the finds all agree.
- Other names
- Chinnereth, Sea of Chinnereth, Kinneret, Sea of Chinneroth, Lake of Gennesaret, Sea of Tiberias, Lake Tiberias, Bahr Tabariya
- Location
- 32.7511° N, 35.5907° E (Google Maps)
How we know where it was
The Torah's border lines give it away. The eastern border of the Land runs down past the Sea of Kinneret and then follows the Jordan to the Salt Sea. Moses describes the Aravah "from the Kinneret to the Sea of the Aravah, the Salt Sea." Only one lake fits. The Jordan flows into it from the north and out of it to the south.
The lake took its name from a town. Joshua lists Kinneret among the fortified cities of Naphtali, and it stood at Tel Kinrot, on the northwest shore. The Hebrew name never left Jewish use, and modern Israel made Kinneret the lake's official name. In Second Temple times it was also called Gennesaret, the Sea of Galilee and the Sea of Tiberias.
Here is the lesson in it. The Kinneret takes in the same water that later reaches the Salt Sea. Yet it stays sweet, and it is one of Israel's sources of drinking water. The difference is that the Kinneret passes the water on. I call it the appreciative sea. It receives, and it gives.
Watch: Why is the Dead Sea Dead
Walking Tanach bonus clip. Why the Kinneret stays sweet and the Dead Sea does not.
Visiting today
The lake is ringed with beaches, Tiberias has a promenade on the shore, and Tel Kinrot sits on the northwest shore near Ginosar. I explain why the lake stays sweet in the Walking Tanach bonus clip Why is the Dead Sea Dead.
Read it in the Bible
Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.
See Kineret on the interactive map →
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Get the print + free ebookNearby places
- Hammath 4 km northwest
- Rakkath 9 km northwest
- Geshur 18 km north
- Mount Tabor 20 km west
- Endor 22 km southwest
- Shunem 29 km southwest