Bible Locations

Elath, also called Eloth, was a port at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba, where the modern cities of Eilat in Israel and Aqaba in Jordan now stand. It gave access to the Red Sea and trade with Arabia and Africa. Israel passed by "Elath and Ezion Geber" when going around Edom (Deuteronomy 2:8). Later, King Uzziah (Azariah) of Judah "rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah" (2 Kings 14:22), but in the time of Ahaz, the Edomites took it back, "and the Edomites then moved into Elath and have lived there to this day" (2 Kings 16:6). Tell el-Kheleifeh, near the shore, excavated by Nelson Glueck in the 1930s, has been identified with Elath or Ezion-geber. In Roman times, it was called Aila and was a base for the Tenth Legion. One of the oldest known purpose-built church buildings, from around AD 300, was found in Aqaba.