Our understanding of the Greek New Testament is based almost entirely on English translations, but how would our understanding of the Greek text change if we read it for what it is: as Greek? With The Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament, we can now get behind the words of the New Testament writers and discover the particular linguistic tasks that inform translation and interpretation.
From the Second Millennium B.C. to the First Century A.D., this compact and lavishly illustrated Bible Atlas, with its many maps, illuminates the biblical period and provides the reader with a visual background to the beauty of the Holy Scriptures. Now revised, it will serve another generation in gaining a better image of the Holy Writ.
Jesus was born at Bethlehem in Judaea, some six miles south of Jerusalem, shortly before Herod’s death, but he spent most of his life in Galilee. He was brought up at Nazareth, about four miles southeast of Sepphoris, which was until about A.D. 20 the residence of Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee. Later, Antipas built himself a new capital at Tiberias, on the southwestern shore of the lake of Galilee.
The traditional sites of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan and his temptation in the wilderness are near Jericho. When he began his public ministry, he set up his headquarters at Capernaum, a Galilaean fishing town on the northwestern shore of the lake. Other towns which feature in the record of his Galilaean ministry are Cana, Nain, Chorazin and Bethsaida (which lies east of the point where the Jordan enters the lake from the north). When Herod Antipas, after his execution of John the Baptist, began to take an ominous interest in the activities of Jesus and his disciples, it was easy for them to sail across the lake and find refuge in the principality of his brother Philip.
It was there that Jesus fed the multitudes and healed the Gadarene demoniac. It was in Philip’s principality, too, near his capital Caesarea Philippi (modern Banyas), that Peter confessed Jesus to be the Messiah, a turning point in the gospel narrative.
Jesus paid several visits to Judaea, the direct road to which led through Samaria. His best-known experience in Samaria was his meeting with the woman of Sychar at Jacob’s well, a well whose fresh water can be appreciated today (John 4:4–42).
When Jesus visited Judaea, he found himself in a Roman province, governed (from A.D. 26 to 36) by the prefect Pontius Pilate. A mutilated inscription bearing his name was discovered at Caesarea in 1961. For his last visit to Judaea, Jesus appears to have traveled through Transjordan rather than Samaria, crossing the Jordan opposite Jericho. The road between Jericho and Jerusalem was the scene of the parable of the good Samaritan. Near the Jerusalem end of this road was the village of Bethany, where Jesus could count on the hospitality of his friends Martha, Mary and Lazarus.
It was Pontius Pilate who sentenced Jesus to death by crucifixion. The Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem marks the traditional line of Jesus’ brief journey from Pilate’s judgment-hall (possibly in the Antonia fortress) to Golgotha. Golgotha lay by the main road just outside a gate in the (second) north wall of the city; its site is covered by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. There, on the third day, his tomb was found empty. In resurrection he appeared to his disciples at various places in Judaea and Galilee. His ascension traditionally took place from the location on the Mount of Olives called Viri Galilaei.
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