Tiberias, Sea of

The Sea of Tiberias is one of several names for the inland freshwater lake in northern Israel (John 6:1; 21:1), also known as the Sea of Galilee, the Sea of Gennesaret (Luke 5:1), and in the Old Testament as the Sea of Chinnereth (Num. 34:11; Josh. 12:3). Approximately thirteen miles long and eight miles wide, it lies some 680 feet below sea level and is fed primarily by the Jordan River.

The lake was the center of Jesus's Galilean ministry. He called his first disciples from among its fishermen (Matt. 4:18-22), calmed a storm on its waters (Matt. 8:23-27), walked on it (Matt. 14:25), and appeared to the disciples beside it after his resurrection (John 21). The fishing villages on its shores — Capernaum, Bethsaida, Magdala — were the primary settings of much of the Gospel narrative outside Jerusalem.