Zaretan or Zarethan (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: צָרְתָן), also known as Zeredathah, is a city mentioned in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

as near the location where the

Hebrews The terms ''Hebrews'' (Hebrew: / , Modern: ' / ', Tiberian: ' / '; ISO 259-3: ' / ') and ''Hebrew people'' are mostly considered synonymous with the Semitic-speaking Israelites, especially in the pre-monarchic period when they were still no ...

crossed the

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

(). In the books of Joshua (, KJV "Zaretan") and 1 Kings ( KJV "Zartanah", "Zarthan"), it is called Zarethan, but in 2 Chronicles it is called Zeredathah (, KJV). Zaredathah stood in the Jordan Valley. Nelson Glueck looked for it on the

east bank Transjordan, the East Bank, or the Transjordanian Highlands ( ar, شرق الأردن), is the part of the Southern Levant east of the Jordan River, mostly contained in present-day Jordan. The region, known as Transjordan, was controlled by nu ...

of the river, proposing , but some more recent authors place it on the

west bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

, one theory identifying it with

Tell el-Mazar Tell may refer to: *Tell (archaeology), a type of archaeological site *Tell (name), a name used as a given name and a surname *Tell (poker), a subconscious behavior that can betray information to an observant opponent Arts, entertainment, and m ...

, also spelled Mezar, in Wadi Far'a. Tell el-Mezar is at the site called in Arabic Qerawa, known from antiquity by the name Korea(i) (κορεα � or Koreous (Kορεους) and located at the foot of Mount Sartabe. According to

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

, the bronze castings for the

Solomon's Temple Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple (, , ), was the Temple in Jerusalem between the 10th century BC and . According to the Hebrew Bible, it was commissioned by Solomon in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited by th ...

were made in the clay grounds between

Sukkot or ("Booths, Tabernacles") , observedby = Jews, Samaritans, a few Protestant denominations, Messianic Jews, Semitic Neopagans , type = Jewish, Samaritan , begins = 15th day of Tishrei , ends = 21st day of Tishre ...

and Zaretan. The old identification of the site of the miracle of the

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

' crossing of the Jordan with the waters stopping their flow at the "

city of Adam The City of Adam (Hebrew ''adam ha-ir'') is a place which appears in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Joshua , where it is described as standing "beside Zarethan" on the east bank of the Jordan. There, says the biblical text, the flow of the water was ...

beside Zaretan" was, according to the Easton's Bible Dictionary (1893 and 1897), presumed to be near Succoth, where the Jabbok flows into the Jordan, about 30 miles upstream from the Israelite camp. There the priests stepped into the water, which then "stood and rose upon an heap", thus creating a 30-mile stretch of dry riverbed for the tribes to use for crossing over to the

Promised Land The Promised Land ( he, הארץ המובטחת, translit.: ''ha'aretz hamuvtakhat''; ar, أرض الميعاد, translit.: ''ard al-mi'ad; also known as "The Land of Milk and Honey"'') is the land which, according to the Tanakh (the Hebrew ...

(; compare ).

References

Bible verses

* Joshua 3:16
1 Kings 7:46
{{Coord, 32.0958, N, 35.4614, E, source:kolossus-plwiki, display=title Hebrew Bible cities Former populated places in Jordan