Place Old Testament
Kiriath-jearim
Also known as Kiriath-jearim =ESV; Kiriath Jearim =NIV; Kirjath-jearim =KJV, Kiriath-arim =ESV; Kirjath-arim =KJV; Kiriath Jearim =NIV, Kiriath-jearim =ESV; Kiriath =NIV; Kirjath =KJV, Kiriath-baal =ESV; Kirjath-baal =KJV; Kiriath Baal =NIV, Baalah, Baale, -judah =ESV; Baalah in, Judah =NIV; Baale of, Judah =KJV, Jaar =ESV, NIV; wood =KJV
Kiriath-jearim, a city where the ark of the covenant resided for 20 years (1Sa.7.1-2). Mentioned in 22 verses across 10 books, first at Joshua 9:17.
Why it matters. A city where the ark resided
- Primary passages
- Location
- 31.771, 34.994 (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 Kiriath-jearim
Kiriath-jearim, also referred to as Kiriath-arim, Kiriath-baal, Baalah, Baale-judah, or Jaar, was a city located on the border between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (Joshua 15:9, 18:14-15). It was one of the four Gibeonite cities that deceived Joshua into making a treaty with them (Joshua 9:17). The ark of the covenant was brought to Kiriath-jearim after being returned by the Philistines and remained there for 20 years (1Sa.6.21, 7:1-2). David later retrieved the ark from Kiriath-jearim to bring it to Jerusalem (1Ch.13.5-6, 2Ch.1.4). The city was also the hometown of the prophet Uriah (Jeremiah 26:20). Kiriath-jearim was resettled by the descendants of Judah after the Babylonian exile (Nehemiah 7:29, Ezra 2:25).
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 22 verses across 10 books. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.