Bible Locations

Zior was a town in the hill country of Judah, listed only in Joshua 15:54 with Humtah and Kiriath-arba (Hebron), in the district around Hebron. It's usually identified with Si'ir, a village about five miles northeast of Hebron, which preserves the name. The area is high, fertile land with vineyards, olive groves and terraced fields. The Palestinian town of Sa'ir is there today, and it has a traditional tomb of Esau, honored by Muslims. The name may mean "smallness" or "little." No events are recorded there in the Bible. Some scholars have suggested it's the same as Zair, where King Jehoram fought the Edomites (2 Kings 8:21), but that's uncertain. The early church writer Eusebius mentioned a village called Sior between Jerusalem and Eleutheropolis.