{"id":35956,"date":"2025-10-14T07:00:46","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T11:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/?p=35956"},"modified":"2025-10-13T10:09:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T14:09:19","slug":"where-was-jesus-born","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/daily\/people-cultures-in-the-bible\/jesus-historical-jesus\/where-was-jesus-born\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Was Jesus Born?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Giotto_adoration-of-the-magi\"<\/a>

Where was Jesus born? In the Bible, Jesus\u2019 birthplace is identified as Bethlehem. This scene from the Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel in Padua by the Italian artist Giotto shows Mary, Joseph and Jesus in the Bethlehem stable. The three wise men, along with their caravan, and angels gather around the child. Above the stable, Haley\u2019s comet streaks across the sky. Haley\u2019s comet was sighted in 1301, three years before Giotto painted this scene.<\/p><\/div>\n

When the Christmas season<\/a> draws near each year, the Nativity story<\/a> is revisited in churches and households around the world. Passages from Matthew 1\u20132 and Luke 1\u20132, the infancy narratives in the Gospels, are read and sung\u2014and even acted out in Christmas pageants.<\/p>\n

Where was Jesus<\/a> born? In the Bible, the answer seems straightforward: Bethlehem<\/a>. Both Matthew 2 and Luke 2 state that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea.<\/p>\n

However, Biblical scholarship has called the identification of Bethlehem as Jesus\u2019 birthplace into question: If Jesus was indeed born in Bethlehem, why is he called a Nazorean and a Galilean throughout the New Testament, and why is Bethlehem not mentioned as Jesus\u2019 birthplace outside of the infancy narratives in the Gospels? This has caused some to wonder if Jesus was actually born in Nazareth.<\/p>\n

In the November\/December 2014 issue of BAR<\/strong><\/a>, Philip J. King addresses this question\u2014where was Jesus born\u2014in his Biblical Views column \u201cJesus\u2019 Birthplace and Jesus\u2019 Home<\/strong><\/a>.\u201d He takes a close look at what the Bible says about the towns of Bethlehem, traditionally Jesus\u2019 birthplace, and Nazareth, Jesus\u2019 home.<\/p>\n

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FREE ebook: The First Christmas: The Story of Jesus\u2019 Birth in History and Tradition<\/strong>. Download now.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t