Genesis maps & timelines

Geographic context

Key Locations in Genesis:

• Mesopotamia (Ur, Haran) - Abraham’s origin; Jacob’s sojourn with Laban
• Canaan - The Promised Land (Shechem, Bethel, Hebron, Beersheba)
• Egypt - Place of refuge and later bondage; Joseph’s elevation
• Wilderness - Abraham’s wanderings, Hagar’s flight
• Edom/Seir - Esau’s territory, southeast of Dead Sea
• Dothan, Shechem - Joseph sold into slavery

Map of the ancient Near East

Genesis unfolds along the Fertile Crescent, the arc of well-watered land that curves from the Persian Gulf up the Tigris and Euphrates and down the coast of Canaan into Egypt. Travelers followed this arc rather than crossing the Arabian desert: Ur to Haran is roughly 600 miles up the Euphrates, and Haran to Shechem another 400 miles south through Damascus.

The same lands today

For reference, here is the same view with today’s countries and cities. The rivers, seas, and coastlines are the same ones the patriarchs knew.

From Eden outward over time

Genesis 2:10-14 gives Eden a real geography: a river flowed out of Eden and split into four, the Pishon, Gihon, Tigris (Hiddekel), and Euphrates. Two of these, the Tigris and Euphrates, are still known today, which places Eden in the region of Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). The Pishon and Gihon can no longer be identified with certainty; proposals range from the highlands of eastern Turkey in the north to the head of the Persian Gulf in the south. Many also note that the flood likely reshaped the land, so today's rivers may carry old names rather than mark the exact spot. What Scripture does give is a clear starting point and a traceable movement outward over time.

1. Eden - the region of the four rivers, including the Tigris and Euphrates (Genesis 2:10-14).
2. East of Eden - Cain settles in the land of Nod, east of Eden (Genesis 4:16).
3. Mountains of Ararat - the ark comes to rest after the flood (Genesis 8:4).
4. Shinar and Babel - humanity resettles and is scattered from the tower (Genesis 11:2-9).
5. Ur of the Chaldeans - Abram's starting point in southern Mesopotamia (Genesis 11:31).
6. Haran - the family settles, and Abram is called from there (Genesis 12:1-4).
7. Canaan - the land of promise (Genesis 12:5-7).
8. Egypt - refuge from famine under Joseph (Genesis 46-47).

The land of the patriarchs

From Genesis 12 onward the story concentrates in Canaan, a corridor barely 150 miles long between the Great Sea and the desert. Nearly every major event in the patriarchs’ lives can be placed on this one strip of land.

The patriarchal journey

Timeline of major events