Bible Locations

The Sea of Chinnereth is the Old Testament name for the Sea of Galilee. Numbers 34:11 describes the eastern border of the land going "along the slopes east of the Sea of Galilee," Hebrew "Kinneret." Joshua 13:27 says the territory of Gad reached "to the end of the Sea of Galilee." The name probably comes from the town of Chinnereth on its northwestern shore, at Tel Kinrot, near the Arbel cliffs, a fortified city in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Some say the name comes from "kinnor," a harp, because the lake is shaped like one. The lake is about 13 miles long and 8 miles wide, about 700 feet below sea level, fed by the Jordan River. Modern Israel calls it Lake Kinneret, and it has long been the country's main source of fresh water.