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Crossway ESV Bible Atlas

On the one-year anniversary of the ESV Study Bible, Justin Taylor reveals that a new Bible atlas is in production.

For those who have appreciated the maps and illustrations in the ESVSB, in June we’ll release the Crossway ESV Bible Atlas, which we’re very excited about. It was a huge project, but OT scholar and archaeologist John Currid (RTS-Charlotte) and cartographer David Barrett have done an outstanding job with it. There’s about 65,000 words explaining the geography and cultures of the biblical world, along with 175 full-color maps, including some in 3D, 70 photos, numerous recreations, a fully searchable CD, and a detailed 16.5 x 22-inch map of Palestine.

He does not mention that David Barrett is also the creator of the recently released Bible Mapper 4.

Readers here may be interested to know that the majority of the photos in the new atlas come from the image collection of BiblePlaces.com.

HT: Ted Weis

Tagged Resources

View from Mount Nebo, Then and Now

What is your favorite view in the Middle East? I have a number of places that I aspire to be on the rare day when the air is crystal clear. Perhaps my top three viewpoints in Israel are Nebi Samwil, Mount Carmel, and Arbel. On the other side of the Jordan River, Mount Nebo ranks first.

Unfortunately, I have never been there on a really clear day.

The photo below was taken in the 1930s, when factories and automobiles were less troublesome to photographers. The view is from Mount Nebo, and you can see beyond the northern end of the Dead Sea to the Judean wilderness and even Jerusalem.

Dead Sea and Judean wilderness, view from Mt Nebo, mat03779

View from Mount Nebo with Dead Sea

I’m linking this photo to the highest resolution available (5200 x 3700 pixels), which will make it a slow download, but those of you with interest will be able to pick out a lot of detail.

For comparison, the photo below was taken from Mount Nebo on a more typical day.

The top photo is taken from the Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection (Library of Congress, LC-matpc-03779). The bottom photo is rotten and will never appear in one of my photo collections.

Tagged American Colony Photos, Dead Sea, Jordan, Then and Now

Tuesday Roundup

Apparently the story has been circulating that Cambyses’ lost army has been found. But it’s not true.

This week UNESCO is holding in Acco the second annual World Heritage Workshop on “Disaster Risk Reduction to Cultural Heritage Sites.”

Ferrell Jenkins posts a beautiful aerial photo of the coastal side of Tel Dor.

We’re glad to see that The Bible and Interpretation now has an RSS feed.

I am off in a few hours to New Orleans for a couple of conferences related to the Bible and
archaeology. I don’t know if I’ll have an internet connection or much time, but if I do, I may post some observations. Readers of this blog going to the ETS meeting may be interested in this paper:

Seth Rodriquez, Site Identification: In Search of a Methodology
Wednesday, Nov. 18, 10:10-10-50am
Marriott, Ile de France I, 3rd Floor

Tagged Lectures, Pseudo-Archaeology

Amman, Then and Now

If you’re not a subscriber to the BiblePlaces Newsletter (or if it landed in your spam box), you may not know that the Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection is now available. Here is one of my favorite photos from the CD: This is an aerial view of Amman, looking down on the acropolis (foreground) and the ancient heart of the Roman city, including the theater. The acropolis is notable because it is almost untouched, whereas today it has roads, a museum, and many excavated areas. The area around the theater is now the center of a dense urban city. In biblical times, the city was known as Rabbah or Rabbath-ammon. In the Roman period, the city was called Philadelphia and was one of the cities of the Decapolis. My attempts to get in an airplane over the city have been unsuccessful, but the photo below will give you some idea of how the area has changed. Amman theater from the acropolis The top photo is one of 25 photos of Amman in the Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection (Library of Congress, LC-matpc-13641). The bottom photo is from the Jordan volume of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands.

Tagged American Colony Photos, Jordan, Then and Now

Weekend Roundup

Leen Ritmeyer is scheduled to lecture at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary on November 15 and 16 on:

The History and Archaeology of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem
The History and Archaeology of Herodian Jerusalem

At the ASOR meeting in New Orleans, Ritmeyer’s lecture is entitled:

The Eastern Wall of the Temple Mount – Deciphering its Story

Joe Lauer notes that the Jerusalem Post Magazine this week has a story on the interesting character of Shlomo Moussaieff. He’s done more in his life than sell expensive jewels and collect rare antiquities. I’ve been eyeing this book for the last year, and so I was delighted to see that Eisenbrauns has Colin Hemer’s The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History for 60% off ($24, plus $5 shipping) this weekend only. A few months ago I read with great appreciation D. A. Carson’s remembrance of Hemer, now available online here: “Colin John Hemer: In Memoriam” (pdf). BibleX points to a good sale at Oxford, including:

Israel in Egypt: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition – James K. Hoffmeier for 50% off = $17.50
A Guide to Biblical Sites in Turkey and Greece – Clyde E. Fant, Mitchell G. Reddish for 65% off = $10.50
The Oxford Companion to the Bible – Michael D. Coogan for 65% off = $28.00
The Holy Land: An Archaeological Guide, 5th edition – Jerome Murphy-O’Connor for 30% off = $26.50 (but $25 at Amazon, or $10 on the Kindle).

Tagged Jerusalem, Lectures, Resources

Bible Mapper Version 4

If, like me, you’re a fan of Bible Mapper, you’ll be pleased to know that version 4 has just been released.

Bible Mapper is still the best program for making custom maps of the Middle East, and now it includes 35 pre-made Bible maps that get you off to a quick start. You can see some of these in the gallery.

There are a number of other improvements as well that may not sound so impressive, but really make the program more enjoyable to use. This includes:

Select Object engine that uses the cursor is much faster at any zoom level and is more forgiving about how close you have to click on an object to select it (e.g., routes and rivers are easier to select)
A basic blank map template is included that contains essentially all the basic styles that you need to create a professional-quality map (journey path styles, political label styles, river label styles, etc.)

You can read more of the improvements on the website. If you have any need for maps, I encourage you to check it out. As before, use of the maps you create is virtually unrestricted.

“Samson’s Exploits” – one of the new maps in Bible Mapper 4.0

Tagged Resources