Zela was a city in Benjamin where Saul and his family were buried .
Zela was a city located in the territory allotted to the tribe of Benjamin (Jos.18.28). It is mentioned as part of a group of fourteen cities north of Jerusalem, though its exact location is uncertain. Some suggest it may be identified with Khirbet Salah between Jerusalem and Gibeon. Notably, Zela contained the ancestral tomb of Kish, the father of King Saul. After Saul and his sons were killed by the Philistines, David had their bones buried in this tomb at Zela (2Sa.21.14). The name Zela in Hebrew may mean "rib" or "side" as of a hill. Zela is possibly the same as Zilu mentioned in the Tell el-Amarna Letters.
Approximate location: 31.793, 35.197 · view on a map · on the Bible atlas
2 verses in 2 books · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H6762
Zelah, Haeleph, Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath-jearim—fourteen cities, along with their villages. This was the inheritance of the clans of the tribe of Benjamin.
And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in Zela in the land of Benjamin, in the tomb of Saulʼs father Kish. After they had done everything the king had commanded, God answered their prayers for the land.
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.