Dead Sea (Salt Sea)
Where is the Dead Sea? The salt lake between Israel, the West Bank and Jordan, the Salt Sea of the Bible and the lowest point on land, with key chapters.
- Today
- Between Israel, the West Bank and Jordan
- Country
- Israel, Palestine (West Bank), Jordan
- Status
- Salt lake: the lowest point on land; Qumran on its shore
- Identification
- Certain
The Dead Sea is a very salty lake with no outlet, fed by the Jordan River; in Turkish it is also known as Lut Gölü, the Lake of Lot. The KK translation calls it the Salt Sea or the Sea of the Arabah and names it as part of the eastern border of the promised land. Genesis presents it as the site of the Valley of Siddim, where the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fought, and when Israel crossed the Jordan the waters flowing toward the Salt Sea were cut off. In Ezekiel's vision a river flowing from the temple heals its waters.
Read the chapters
- Genesis 14
- Numbers 34
- Deuteronomy 3
- Joshua 3
- Joshua 15
- Ezekiel 47
A chapter recounting the prophet's vision of a river flowing out from the temple, growing ever deeper and bringing life wherever it goes — an image of renewal in which blessing replaces barrenness.
Related topics
Related people
- Moses
- Abraham
- Joseph
- Noah
- Adam
- Aaron
- Eve
- Ezekiel
- Isaac
- Sarah
- Jacob
- Joshua
- Methuselah
- Seth
- Abel
- Cain
- Ishmael
- Hagar
- Lot
- Rachel
Related verse collections
- Bible Verses About Fear and Anxiety
- Bible Verses About Creation
- Bible Verses About Courage
- Bible Verses About Repentance
- Bible Verses About Family
- Bible Verses About Marriage
- Bible Verses About Justice
- Bible Verses About Faithfulness
- Bible Verses About Loneliness
- Bible Verses About New Beginnings
- Bible Verses About Trials and Testing
- Bible Verses About Strength
- Bible Verses About God's Promises
- Bible Verses About Work and Labor
Reading plans
- The Bible for Beginners — 10 Days
- Advent — 24 Days to Christmas
- The Bible in a Year — 365 Days from Cover to Cover
Books
Places in the Bible
Where is the Dead Sea, and in which country?
The Dead Sea today lies between Israel, the West Bank and Jordan, a salt lake about 430 metres below sea level; it should not be confused with the Ölüdeniz lagoon at Fethiye in Türkiye. The KK translation calls it the Salt Sea, the lake into which the Jordan's waters flow (Joshua 3:16). About ten times saltier than the ocean, it has no fish and swimmers float easily. Visitors see Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, Masada and the oasis of En Gedi; the water level drops about a metre a year.
Why is the Dead Sea called the Lake of Lot?
In the Bible, Sodom and the other cities where Lot lived lie in the Jordan plain around this salt lake (Genesis 13:10-12). That is why the lake is also called Bahr Lut in Arabic and Lut Gölü in Turkish. It has nothing to do with the Ölüdeniz lagoon at Fethiye in Türkiye.
Where were the Dead Sea Scrolls found?
The Dead Sea Scrolls were found from 1947 onward in caves near Qumran on the lake's northwest shore. They include the oldest known manuscripts of Old Testament books; the Great Isaiah Scroll, for example, contains almost the whole book of Isaiah.