Place Old Testament
Casiphia
Also known as Casiphia =ESV, KJV; Kasiphia =NIV
Casiphia was a place in Babylon where Ezra sent for Levites to join the returning exiles in Jerusalem. Mentioned once in Scripture, at Ezra 8:17.
Why it matters. Place where Levites were recruited for temple service
- Primary passages
- Location
- 35.136, 36.749 (approximate, within about 2 km)
Coordinates from STEPBible TIPNR (palopenmaps.org link). Approximate; not independently verified.
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Casiphia
Casiphia is mentioned only once in the Bible, in Ezra 8:17, as a place in Babylon where Levites were recruited to join the exiles returning to Jerusalem. During the reign of the Persian king Artaxerxes, Ezra led a group of Jews back to Jerusalem to restore worship at the temple. At the river Ahava, Ezra discovered that there were no Levites among the returning exiles (Ezra 8:15).
Ezra then sent a delegation to Casiphia, where a man named Iddo was the leader, to request that Levites be sent to join the returning group (Ezra 8:17). In response to this request, a number of Levites and temple servants were sent from Casiphia to accompany Ezra and the other exiles to Jerusalem (Ezra 8:18-20).
The exact location of Casiphia is unknown, but it was likely a settlement in Babylon where a community of Levites lived during the exile. This passage highlights the importance of the Levites in the restoration of temple worship and the care taken by Ezra to ensure that all the necessary personnel were present for the proper functioning of the temple in Jerusalem.
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
Connections
No reviewed connections yet.
Appears in Scripture
Named in 1 verse across 1 book. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.
Ezra (1 verse)