Tirzah, a Canaanite city captured by Joshua, later served as the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel before Samaria (Josh. 12:24; 1Kgs. 14:17; 15:21, 33; 16:6-23).
Tirzah was a Canaanite city that was captured by Joshua during the conquest of Canaan (Josh. 12:24). It later became the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel during the reigns of Jeroboam I, Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, and Omri (1Kgs. 14:17; 15:21, 33; 16:6-23). Tirzah served as the royal residence and administrative center until Omri built Samaria, which then became the new capital (1Kgs. 16:23-24). The city is also mentioned in the Song of Solomon, where the beauty of the Shulammite woman is likened to that of Tirzah (Sng.6.4). Tirzah's exact location is uncertain, but it is believed to have been situated in the hill country of Samaria, possibly near modern-day Tell el-Far'ah, about 7 miles northeast of Nablus.
Approximate location: 32.271, 35.294 · view on a map · on the Bible atlas
13 verses in 4 books · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H8656
and the king of Tirzah, one. So there were thirty-one kings in all.
Then Jeroboamʼs wife got up and departed for Tirzah, and as soon as she stepped over the threshold of the house, the boy died.
When Baasha learned of this, he stopped fortifying Ramah and withdrew to Tirzah.
In the third year of Asaʼs reign over Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah became king of all Israel, and he reigned in Tirzah twenty-four years.
And Baasha rested with his fathers and was buried in Tirzah, and his son Elah reigned in his place.
In the twenty-sixth year of Asaʼs reign over Judah, Elah son of Baasha became king of Israel, and he reigned in Tirzah two years.
However, while Elah was in Tirzah getting drunk in the house of Arza the steward of his household there, Elahʼs servant Zimri, the commander of half his chariots, conspired against him.
In the twenty-seventh year of Asaʼs reign over Judah, Zimri reigned in Tirzah for seven days. Now the troops were encamped against Gibbethon of the Philistines,
Then Omri and all the Israelites marched up from Gibbethon and besieged Tirzah.
In the thirty-first year of Asaʼs reign over Judah, Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned twelve years, six of them in Tirzah.
Then Menahem son of Gadi went up from Tirzah to Samaria, struck down and killed Shallum son of Jabesh, and reigned in his place.
At that time Menahem, starting from Tirzah, attacked Tiphsah and everyone in its vicinity, because they would not open their gates. So he attacked Tiphsah and ripped open all the pregnant women.
You are as beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah, as lovely as Jerusalem, as majestic as troops with banners.
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.