Damascus, an ancient city in Syria, played a significant role in biblical history.
Damascus is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, serving as the capital of Syria. It is first mentioned in Genesis 14:15 in connection with Abraham's rescue of Lot. Later, David brought the city under Israelite control (2Sa.8.5-6), but it regained its independence during Solomon's reign (1Ki.11.24). Damascus was involved in conflicts with Israel and Judah, often aligning with their enemies (1Ki.15.18; 2Ki.16.9). The city was known for its beauty and prosperity, with references to its fertile gardens and bustling trade (Sng.7.4; Ezk.27.18). In the New Testament, Damascus is significant as the place of Paul's conversion on the road to the city (Act.9.1-19). The city played a crucial role in the early spread of Christianity, with Paul spending time there after his conversion (Galatians 1:17).
Approximate location: 33.519, 36.313 · view on a map · on the Bible atlas
Activity, the most ancient of Oriental cities; the capital of Syria (Isa. 7:8; 17:3); situated about 133 miles to the north of Jerusalem. Its modern name is Esh-Sham; i.e., “the East.” The situation of this city is said to be the most beautiful of all Western Asia. It is mentioned among the conquests of the Egyptian king Thothmes III. (B.C. 1500), and in the Amarna tablets (B.C. 1400). It is first mentioned in Scripture in connection with Abraham’s victory over the confederate kings under Chedorlaomer (Gen. 14:15). It was the native place of Abraham’s steward (15:2). It is not again noticed till the time of David, when “the Syrians of Damascus came to succour Hadadezer” (q.v.), 2 Sam. 8:5; 1 Chr. 18:5. In the reign of Solomon, Rezon became leader of a band who revolted from Hadadezer (1 Kings 11:23), and betaking themselves to Damascus, settled there and made their leader king. There was a long war, with varying success, between the Israelites and Syrians, who at a later period became allies of Israel against Judah (2 Kings 15:37). The Syrians were at length subdued by the Assyrians, the city of Damascus was taken and destroyed, and the inhabitants carried captive into Assyria (2 Kings 16:7-9; comp. Isa. 7:8). In this, prophecy was fulfilled (Isa. 17:1; Amos 1:4; Jer. 49:24). The kingdom of Syria remained a province of Assyria till the capture of Nineveh by the Medes (B.C. 625), when it fell under the conquerors. After passing through various vicissitudes, Syria was invaded by the Romans (B.C. 64), and Damascus became the seat of the government of the province. In A.D. 37 Aretas, the king of Arabia, became master of Damascus, having driven back Herod Antipas. This city is memorable as the scene of Saul’s conversion (Acts 9:1-25). The street called “Straight,” in which…
one of the most ancient and most important of the cities of Syria. It is situated 130 miles northeast of Jerusalem, in a plain of vast size and of extreme fertility, which lies east of the great chain of Anti-Libanus, on the edge of the desert. This fertile plain, which is nearly circular and about 30 miles in diameter, is due to the river Barada, which is probably the “Abana” of Scripture. Two other streams the Wady Helbon upon the north and the Awaj, which flows direct from Hermon upon the south, increase the fertility of the Damascene plain, and contend for the honor of representing the “Pharpar” of Scripture. According to Josephus, Damascus was founded by Uz grandson of Shem. It is first mentioned in Scripture in connection with Abraham, (Genesis 14:15) whose steward was a native of the place. (Genesis 15:2) At one time david became complete master of the whole territory, which he garrisoned with israelites. (2 Samuel 8:5,6) It was in league with Baasha, king of Israel against Asa, (1 Kings 15:19; 2 Chronicles 16:3) and afterwards in league with Asa against Baasha. (1 Kings 15:20) Under Ahaz it was taken by Tiglath-pileser, (2 Kings 16:7,8,9) the kingdom of Damascus brought to an end, and the city itself destroyed, the inhabitants being carried captive into Assyria. (2 Kings 16:9) comp. Isai 7:8 and Amos 1:5 Afterwards it passed successively under the dominion of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Macedonians, Romans and Saracens, and was at last captured by the Turks in 1516 A.D. Here the apostle Paul was converted and preached the gospel. (Acts 9:1-25) Damascus has always been a great centre for trade. Its present population is from 100,000 to 150,000. It has a delightful climate. Certain localities are shown as the site of those scriptural events which…
a sack full of blood; the similitude of burning
DAMAS'CUS, the most ancient and famous city of Syria, 133 miles north-east of Jerusalem, at the base of Anti-Lebanon mountains. It is on a fertile plain 30 miles in diameter, with mountains on three sides. The plain is well watered by the Barada, the Chrysorrhoas (or "Golden Stream") of the Greeks, the Abana of Scripture; and El A'waj ("the crooked"), the Pharpar of Scripture. 2 Kgs 5:12. These streams flow into meadow-lakes 18 miles east of the city. Damascus lies 2260 feet above the sealevel. The climate is delightful; frost is not uncommon in winter, but fireplaces are unknown; in summer the thermometer marks 100 F to 104 F but the nights are cool and the dews heavy; yet the people sleep on the flat roofs of their houses. Damascus is called by the Arabs "the Eye of the Desert" and the "Pearl of the East." It is to the Mohammedan the earthly reflection of paradise. The chief cause of its beauty and fertility is the abundance of water, which calls forth a most luxuriant vegetation round about the city, and makes it a blooming oasis in the midst of a vast desert. History. -Damascus is called the oldest city in the world; said by Josephus to have been founded by Uz, a grandson of Shem; Abraham visited it, Gen 14:15; Gen 15:2; it was conquered by David, 2 Sam 8:5-6; was allied with Israel and against Israel, 1 Kgs 15:18, Ruth 4:20; 2 Chr 16:3; was taken by Tiglath-pileser; Wall of Damascus.(From, Conybeare and Howson's "St. Paul.") denounced by Jeremiah. Jer 49:27; and afterward seldom noticed in O.T. history. It was surrendered to Alexander the Great after the battle of Issus, b.c. 333. In the N.T. it is noticed as the place of the scene of Paul's conversion, Acts 9:1-25; later it became the residence of a Christian bishop; was conquered by the Arabs, a.d. 635; attacked…
DAMAS'CUS, the most ancient and famous city of Syria, 133 miles north-east of Jerusalem, at the base of Anti-Lebanon mountains. It is on a fertile plain 30 miles in diameter, with mountains on three sides. The plain is well watered by the Barada, the Chrysorrhoas (or "Golden Stream") of the Greeks, the Abana of Scripture; and El A'waj ("the crooked"), the Pharpar of Scripture. 2 Kgs 5:12. These streams flow into meadow-lakes 18 miles east of the city. Damascus lies 2260 feet above the sealevel. The climate is delightful; frost is not uncommon in winter, but fireplaces are unknown; in summer the thermometer marks 100 F to 104 F but the nights are cool and the dews heavy; yet the people sleep on the flat roofs of their houses. Damascus is called by the Arabs "the Eye of the Desert" and the "Pearl of the East." It is to the Mohammedan the earthly reflection of paradise. The chief cause of its beauty and fertility is the abundance of water, which calls forth a most luxuriant vegetation round about the city, and makes it a blooming oasis in the midst of a vast desert. History. -Damascus is called the oldest city in the world; said by Josephus to have been founded by Uz, a grandson of Shem; Abraham visited it, Gen 14:15; Gen 15:2; it was conquered by David, 2 Sam 8:5-6; was allied with Israel and against Israel, 1 Kgs 15:18, Ruth 4:20; 2 Chr 16:3; was taken by Tiglath-pileser; Wall of Damascus.(From, Conybeare and Howson's "St. Paul.") denounced by Jeremiah. Jer 49:27; and afterward seldom noticed in O.T. history. It was surrendered to Alexander the Great after the battle of Issus, b.c. 333. In the N.T. it is noticed as the place of the scene of Paul's conversion, Acts 9:1-25; later it became the residence of a Christian bishop; was conquered by the Arabs, a.d. 635; attacked…
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
55 verses in 15 books · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H1834
During the night, Abram divided his forces and routed Chedorlaomerʼs army, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.
But Abram replied, “O Lord God, what can You give me, since I remain childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
When the Arameans of Damascus came to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, David struck down twenty-two thousand of their men.
Then he placed garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans became subject to David and brought him tribute. So the LORD made David victorious wherever he went.
and had gathered men to himself. When David killed the Zobaites, Rezon captained a band of raiders and went to Damascus, where they settled and gained control.
So Asa withdrew all the silver and gold that remained in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the royal palace. He entrusted it to his servants and sent them with this message to Ben-hadad son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, the king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus:
Then the LORD said to him, “Go back by the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you arrive, you are to anoint Hazael as king over Aram.
Ben-hadad said to him, “I will restore the cities my father took from your father; you may set up your own marketplaces in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.” “By this treaty I release you,” Ahab replied. So he made a treaty with him and sent him away.
Are not the Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not have washed in them and been cleansed?” So he turned and went away in a rage.
Then Elisha came to Damascus while Ben-hadad king of Aram was sick, and the king was told, “The man of God has come here.”
So Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him a gift of forty camel loads of every good thing from Damascus. And he went in and stood before him and said, “Your son Ben-hadad king of Aram has sent me to ask, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”
As for the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, along with all his accomplishments and might, and how he waged war and recovered both Damascus and Hamath for Israel from Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
So the king of Assyria responded to him, marched up to Damascus, and captured it. He took its people to Kir as captives and put Rezin to death.
Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria. On seeing the altar in Damascus, King Ahaz sent Uriah the priest a model of the altar and complete plans for its construction.
And Uriah the priest built the altar according to all the instructions King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, and he completed it before King Ahaz had returned.
When the king came back from Damascus and saw the altar, he approached it and presented offerings on it.
When the Arameans of Damascus came to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, David struck down twenty-two thousand of their men.
Then he placed garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans became subject to David and brought him tribute. So the LORD made David victorious wherever he went.
So Asa withdrew the silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the royal palace, and he sent it with this message to Ben-hadad king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus:
In the spring, the army of Aram went to war against Joash. They entered Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the leaders of the people, and they sent all the plunder to their king in Damascus.
So the LORD his God delivered Ahaz into the hand of the king of Aram, who attacked him and took many captives to Damascus. Ahaz was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck him with great force.
He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him, he said, “Because the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” But these gods were the downfall of Ahaz and of all Israel.
Your neck is like a tower made of ivory; your eyes are like the pools of Heshbon by the gate of Bath-rabbim; your nose is like the tower of Lebanon, facing toward Damascus.
For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered as a people.
For before the boy knows how to cry ‘Father’ or ‘Mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”
“Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?
This is the burden against Damascus: “Behold, Damascus is no longer a city; it has become a heap of ruins.
The fortress will disappear from Ephraim, and the sovereignty from Damascus. The remnant of Aram will be like the splendor of the Israelites,” declares the LORD of Hosts.
Concerning Damascus: “Hamath and Arpad are put to shame, for they have heard a bad report; they are agitated like the sea; their anxiety cannot be calmed.
Damascus has become feeble; she has turned to flee. Panic has gripped her; anguish and pain have seized her like a woman in labor.
“I will set fire to the walls of Damascus; it will consume the fortresses of Ben-hadad.”
Because of your many products and your great wealth of goods, Damascus traded with you wine from Helbon, wool from Zahar,
Berothah, and Sibraim (which is on the border between Damascus and Hamath), as far as Hazer-hatticon, which is on the border of Hauran.
So the border will run from the Sea to Hazar-enan, along the northern border of Damascus, with the territory of Hamath to the north. This will be the northern boundary.
On the east side the border will run between Hauran and Damascus, along the Jordan between Gilead and the land of Israel, to the Eastern Sea and as far as Tamar. This will be the eastern boundary.
“Now these are the names of the tribes: At the northern frontier, Dan will have one portion bordering the road of Hethlon to Lebo-hamath and running on to Hazar-enan on the border of Damascus with Hamath to the north, and extending from the east side to the west side.
This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Damascus, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they threshed Gilead with sledges of iron.
I will break down the gates of Damascus; I will cut off the ruler from the Valley of Aven and the one who wields the scepter in Beth-eden. The people of Aram will be exiled to Kir,” says the LORD.
Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Hosts.
This is the burden of the word of the LORD against the land of Hadrach and Damascus its resting place— for the eyes of men and of all the tribes of Israel are upon the LORD—
and requested letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he could bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
As Saul drew near to Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.
Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could not see a thing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus.
In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Here I am, Lord,” he answered.
and after taking some food, he regained his strength. And he spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.
But Saul was empowered all the more, and he confounded the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.
Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and described how Saul had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him on the road to Damascus, and how Saul had spoken boldly in that city in the name of Jesus.
as the high priest and the whole Council can testify about me. I even obtained letters from them to their brothers in Damascus, and I was on my way to apprehend these people and bring them to Jerusalem to be punished.
About noon as I was approaching Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me.
Then I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ ‘Get up and go into Damascus,’ He told me. ‘There you will be told all that you have been appointed to do.’
Because the brilliance of the light had blinded me, my companions led me by the hand into Damascus.
In this pursuit I was on my way to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.
First to those in Damascus and Jerusalem, then to everyone in the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I declared that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds worthy of their repentance.
In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas secured the city of the Damascenes in order to arrest me.
nor did I go up to Jerusalem to the apostles who came before me, but I went into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.