Bible Locations

Adoraim was a town in the hill country of Judah, at the modern town of Dura, about five miles (8 km) west-southwest of Hebron in the West Bank. It stood on high ground overlooking routes toward the Shephelah and the coastal plain. Second Chronicles 11:9 lists it among fifteen cities that King Rehoboam fortified after the kingdom split, probably to defend Judah against Egypt. Pharaoh Shishak invaded soon after, around 925 BC. In the Greek period, it was called Adora and became a town of the Idumeans, the descendants of the Edomites who had moved into southern Judah. Around 125 BC, the Hasmonean ruler John Hyrcanus captured Adora and Marisa and forced the Idumeans to be circumcised and follow Jewish law, according to Josephus. Later, the Roman general Gabinius rebuilt it. The Idumeans who became Jews this way included the ancestors of Herod the Great.