Biblical places
Ziklag
The town David received from the Philistine king Achish while fleeing Saul, which he used as a base before becoming king — though its exact modern location remains strongly disputed among scholars.
Sources and location confidence
- Location confidence
- Disputed
- Tell esh-Shari'a (Tel Sera) — disputed, also proposed: Khirbet a-Ra'i, Tel Halif, Tell el-Khuweilfeh, Tel Zayit
- 31.3911, 34.6807
Scholars disagree: OpenBible gives the strongest support (55%) to Tell esh-Shari'a (Tel Sera), while a 2019 excavation team argued for Khirbet a-Ra'i, though this is not a full scholarly consensus. The traditional majority-view coordinates were adopted as the representative value.
Related Bible passages
These are selected indexed references, not an exhaustive list of every mention in the Bible.
Joshua 15:31
And Ziklag, and Madmannah, and Sansannah,
1 Samuel 27:6
Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: wherefore Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this day.
2 Samuel 1:1
Now it came to pass after the death of Saul, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, and David had abode two days in Ziklag;
1 Chronicles 4:30
And at Bethuel, and at Hormah, and at Ziklag,
Nehemiah 11:28
And at Ziklag, and at Mekonah, and in the villages thereof,
Joshua 19:5
And Ziklag, and Bethmarcaboth, and Hazarsusah,
1 Samuel 30:1
And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire;
2 Samuel 4:10
When one told me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead, thinking to have brought good tidings, I took hold of him, and slew him in Ziklag, who thought that I would have given him a reward for his tidings: