Shinar
Shinar was an ancient region in Mesopotamia, associated with the cities of Babylon and Uruk, and the site of the Tower of Babel.
The name Shinar means “watch of him that sleeps”
PlaceMesopotamiaOld Testament5 books8 verses
Summary
A location in Mesopotamia first mentioned at Genesis 10:10; only referred to as Shinar (שִׁנְעָר).
Location
- Certainty
- Widely agreed (100% of scholarship)
- Coordinates
- 32.543° N, 44.422° E
Events
Dates are approximate
- Nimrod's kingdom beginsc. 1822 BC
Glossary entries
Alternative names
- שִׁנְעָרShinar
Mentions
- His kingdom began in Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
- And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
- In those days Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim
- …against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five.
- When I saw among the spoils a beautiful cloak from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”
- On that day the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover the remnant of His people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
- And the Lord delivered into his hand Jehoiakim king of Judah, along with some of the articles from the house of God. He carried these off to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, where he put them in the treasury of his god.
- “To build a house for it in the land of Shinar,” he told me. “And when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its pedestal.”