The Bible Gateway Plus Atlas features scrollable, zoomable, interactive maps that help you orient your understanding of the location of places mentioned in the Bible as you’re reading Scripture. Each map is synchronized with Bible verses, so it’s conveniently accessible with a click of your mouse to help you quickly get your bearings.

For example, while you’re reading the first chapter of Acts, you come upon verse 8, where Jesus is telling his disciples they will be his witnesses “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth,” and you want to know where the Judea region is located in the Israeli landscape. The Bible Gateway Plus Atlas lets you see the location of the Judea region and how it relates to other places mentioned in Acts 1.

[Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, Bible Gateway Plus Members Gain Biblical Insight with Zondervan Academic Maps]

When you become a member of Bible Gateway Plus, you’ll be able to access the Bible Gateway Plus Atlas through the STUDY tab in the sidebar on the right side of Bible passage pages (or the “STUDY” tab at the bottom of the screen on your mobile device). Scroll to “Maps” and click “Bible Gateway Atlas” to show a list of places in the passage. Then click the place you’re interested in (Judea in this case) to open a map like this one of Acts 1.

The map is a satellite view of the place you clicked. Next to the map is a list of other places mentioned in the passage you’re reading, along with the verses that mention them in the passage. You can click the modern name of the place to highlight it on the map, or you can click the markers on the map itself. Sometimes scholars aren’t sure exactly where a biblical place is located: some places may have more than one possible location, and a “?” appears if scholars are uncertain. The word “region” appears if the place refers to an area; the map marker indicates a point in the region. Some places are described as “in the region of” another location, meaning that the exact location is nearby but not necessarily known.

The maps are interactive, meaning you can zoom in on particular spots and move the map by dragging it. The second map above of Acts 1 is a tighter focus on the Judea region and the third map below shows the zoomed in area with the Mount of Olives to the east and the Field of Blood to the south.

To close the map, click the X in the upper right corner.

The possible locations specified on the maps are based on the Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible and the Zondervan Atlas of the Bible.

Currently, the Bible Gateway Plus Atlas is only available to Bible Gateway Plus members on the www.biblegateway.com website (not on the Bible Gateway App).

For more information, see our FAQ page.

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