Zarthan

Zarthan is an alternate spelling of Zaretan, used in 1 Kings 4:12 in the description of the administrative district of Baana son of Ahilud, which stretched from Taanach and Megiddo to all of Beth-shean by Zarthan below Jezreel. The same site appears as Zaretan in Joshua 3:16 (the Jordan crossing) and 1 Kings 7:46 (bronze casting for the temple). The variant spellings reflect different textual traditions and the difficulty of consistently transcribing place names across the Hebrew manuscripts. All references point to a location in the Jordan valley near the confluence of the Jordan and one of its tributaries.