Sea
Dead Sea
DED SEE · Modern Dead Sea (Israel/Jordan/West Bank border) · Also called Salt Sea, Sea of the Arabah, Eastern Sea
Dead Sea is a sea of the biblical world.
What is known
- Called the 'Salt Sea,' the 'Sea of the Arabah,' or the 'Eastern Sea' in the Old Testament, it forms part of the eastern and southern boundary of the Promised Land in Joshua's territorial descriptions
- Its extreme salinity, roughly ten times that of the ocean, prevents fish and most aquatic life from surviving in it while giving swimmers exceptional buoyancy
- Ezekiel 47:8-10 prophesies that water flowing from a future temple will heal the Dead Sea, making its waters teem with fish and fishermen line its shores — a vivid symbol of restoration
- The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, destroyed in Genesis 19, are traditionally associated with the southern end of the Dead Sea, though their precise locations have never been conclusively identified
- At roughly 430 meters below sea level, its shoreline is the lowest land elevation on Earth
History
- Coordinates
- 31.5000° N, 35.5000° E
Scripture references
- Genesis 14:3
- Genesis 19:24-28
- Numbers 34:12
- Joshua 3:16
- Joshua 12:3
- Joshua 15:2
- Ezekiel 47:8-10
On a modern map
Further reading
Reflect
The Dead Sea receives water but has no outlet, and almost nothing lives in it — what flows into your life that never flows out to anyone else?
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