Place Old Testament
Shittim
Also known as Abel-shittim =ESV, KJV; Abel Shittim =NIV
Shittim, also called Abel-shittim, the final Israelite encampment before entering Canaan. Mentioned in 5 verses across 3 books, first at Numbers 25:1.
Why it matters. The last Israelite campsite before crossing the Jordan.
- Primary passages
- Location
- 31.858, 35.642 (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 Shittim
Shittim, also known as Abel-shittim, was the last campsite of the Israelites before they crossed the Jordan River to enter Canaan. It was located in the plains of Moab, east of the Jordan and opposite Jericho (Numbers 33:49). At Shittim, the Israelites fell into sin with the Moabite women and worshipped the Moabite god Baal of Peor, resulting in a plague that killed 24,000 people (Numbers 25:1-9). It was also from Shittim that Joshua sent two spies to investigate Jericho (Joshua 2:1) and where the Israelites camped before crossing the Jordan (Joshua 3:1). The prophet Micah later recalled the events at Shittim, from Balaam to the crossing of the Jordan, as evidence of God's righteous acts toward Israel (Micah 6:5).
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 5 verses across 3 books. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.