Tirzah
תִּרְצָה
Where was biblical Tirzah? At Tell el-Far'ah (North), northeast of Nablus, about 55 km northeast of Tel Aviv. I mark it very likely.
Zimri burned the royal palace down on himself here when Omri's army stormed the early capital of Israel. He had been king for seven days.
By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker
- Site today
- Tell el-Far'ah (North), northeast of Nablus
- How sure
- Very likely Strong evidence, with no serious rival.
- Other names
- Tirtza, Tell el-Far'ah, Tell el-Farah
- Location
- 32.2853° N, 35.3389° E (Google Maps)
How we know where it was
Tirzah was the royal city of the first northern kings, and the scene of their bloodiest coups. Jeroboam's wife came home to Tirzah, and her son died as she crossed the threshold. Baasha reigned here for twenty-four years. His son Elah was murdered here while drunk, by Zimri, the commander of half his chariots. Omri then ruled from Tirzah for six years before he moved the capital to Shomron. The Song of Songs still remembers its glory: "beautiful as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem."
No inscription names the site. The case rests on fit, and the fit is very good. Tell el-Far'ah (North) is a strong, well-watered city at the head of the Tirzah Valley, the main road from the Jordan Valley up into the hills. A king who held this spot held the eastern gate of the hill country.
Then the dig told the same story as the Book of Kings. Excavators found an important Iron Age city that flourished as an early royal center. Then an ambitious building phase stopped unfinished, and the city declined. That is just when Omri left Tirzah and built Shomron. It looks like the work stopped because the court had moved.
Earlier guesses rested on sound-alike Arabic names. Tayasir sounds like Tirzah, and Talluza was proposed too. Tayasir lacks the right Iron Age remains, and both have been abandoned.
Visiting today
Tell el-Far'ah is a large tel with exposed excavation areas near the el-Far'a camp northeast of Nablus. Access for Israelis is restricted.
Read it in the Bible
Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.
See Tirzah on the interactive map →
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Get the print + free ebookNearby places
- Mount Ebal (Eival) 8 km southwest
- Shechem 10 km southwest
- Mount Gerizim 11 km southwest
- Samaria (Shomron), the City 13 km west
- Dothan 17 km northwest
- Tappuah 20 km southwest