Leen Ritmeyer comments on the report that the stone floor inside the Dome of the Rock is being removed. The Temple Mount Sifting Project posts a recent photo with a note that more details will be posted soon.

A shrine from the 30th Dynasty Pharaoh Nectanebo I was recently discovered in Cairo.

The Shroud of Turin goes back on display tomorrow for the first time since 2010.

ISIS has released video showing its destruction of the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud.

Accordance Bible Software has just released two significant works from Carta on inscriptions related to the Bible: The Raging Torrent: Historical Inscriptions from Assyria and Babylonia Relating to 
Ancient Israel, by Mordechai Cogan and Echoes from the Past: Hebrew and Cognate Inscriptions from the Biblical Period, by Shmuel Ahituv. Both are on sale for a few more days.

Ferrell Jenkins shares a series of photos that illustrate the story of Jesus and his disciples passing through the grain fields on the Sabbath.

A 2009 lecture by Geza Vermes on the Dead Sea Scrolls is now online.

The new ESV Bible app was designed to be the most beautiful and intuitive Bible app currently
available (for iOS only). Mark Hoffman provides a survey of many available for Android and the
iPhone.

HT: Agade, Ted Weis

The Holy Fire ceremony was celebrated in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher today.

It snowed on Mount Hermon this morning. The annual precipitation in Israel this year is close to average.

Hershel Shanks is a guest on The Book and the Spade talking with Gordon Govier about 40 years of publishing Biblical Archaeology Review.

Leen Ritmeyer is interviewed on the Voice of Israel about his involvement in the archaeology of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.

The Mujib Biosphere Reserve (biblical Nahal Arnon) is open for another adventure season.

Wayne Stiles provides a spiritual lesson from the skeleton that today stands on ancient Gibeah.

New Bible atlas: The Historical and Geographical Maps of Israel and Surrounding Territories, by
Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, with $10 off the $89 price through April 30.

We’re sharing our favorite 12 sites in Galilee on Facebook and @BiblePlaces.

HT: Steven Anderson

Holy fire ceremony from dome, mat14517
The Holy Fire ceremony in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher
Photo from The American Colony Collection, ca. 1941

The Passover sacrifice was reenacted recently by Jewish priests-in-training. The Times of Israel article includes a graphic 3-minute video.

Wayne Stiles explains how God connected Passover, redemption, and the Holy Land. He also shows how archaeology helps us to understand the Passion Week.

BibleX shares how one can illustrate the triumphal entry using photos from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands.

The Temple Mount Sifting Project found a finger from an Egyptian statue last week.

Leen Ritmeyer was recently interviewed on “Cry for Zion.” His blog lists some of the questions he was asked.

The Gazelle Valley Urban Wildlife Park opened in Jerusalem last week.

A.D. The Bible Continues airs Sunday evening on NBC. A trailer is online.

David Laskin visits sites related to King Herod in a travel piece in the New York Times.

Archaeologists have discovered an ancient Egyptian brewery in Tel Aviv.

Passages opened yesterday in Santa Clarita, California.

The Egyptian Museum in Turin, Italy, has re-opened after a five-year restoration. This is the only museum entirely devoted to Egyptian culture outside of Egypt.

A new technology will reduce the length of time required for carbon-14 dating from six weeks to two days.

Accordance’s 20% off sale ends on Monday (with code Celeb2). That discount applies to our own photo collections, including The American Colony Collection ($30 off), Views That Have Vanished, and the new ones: Cultural Images of the Holy Land and Trees, Plants, and Flowers of the Holy Land.

HT: Agade, Ted Weis, Joseph Lauer

Just before Palm Sunday, Jesus made the trek from Jericho to Jerusalem. What did he see?

A good book to read this week in the days leading up to Good Friday is The Final Days of Jesus, now $3.99 on Kindle.

The Temple Institute has built a sacrificial altar to be used in the Third Temple. Leen Ritmeyer comments.

Who is buried in the Prophetess Hulda’s tomb on the Mount of Olives? Miriam Feinberg Vamosh considers the question in a premium article at Haaretz.

The city of Afula plans to preserve its archaeological remains which span from the Chalcolithic to the Crusader periods.

Aren Maeir visited Hebron and took some photos of the ancient fortifications.

Leon Mauldin is in Athens now and shares some photos from the acropolis museum.

A large underground city has been discovered in Cappadocia.

You can vote for your favorite excavation photo in this year’s AIA Photo Contest. (No registration required.)

Now $0.99 on Kindle: The World and the Word: An Introduction to the Old Testament, by Eugene H.
Merrill, Mark Rooker, and Michael A. Grisanti. Also $0.99 on Vyrso.

HT: Agade

Now online: Secrets of the Bible: The Fall of Jericho with Dr. Bryant Wood. (55 min)

Malerie Yolen-Cohen suggests 11 things to do in Israel that you may not have considered before.

The Holy Land Magazine is directed towards Christian tourists to Israel.

Ferrell Jenkins writes about Solomon’s Quarries in Jerusalem and the American missionary who discovered them in the 19th century.

Jenkins also shares a great quote from André Parrot who writes that “knowledge gained from books is certainly not enough, for names which are not attached to any reality are nothing more than ghosts.” Read the whole paragraph (and then book your next trip, or start a fund for your grandkid).

Turkish authorities are trying to figure out how to increase religious tourism to the site of ancient Ephesus.


The LA Times provides some background on the making of the Jerusalem 3D IMAX movie.

“The Siege of Masada” premieres on March 27 on the Smithsonian Channel. The one-hour special examines the evidence behind Josephus’ account.

Gerald McDermott addresses the question of whether the land of Israel should still be significant for Christians in a chapel message DTS.

HT: Agade, Jay Baggett, Ted Weis, Charles Savelle, Wayne Stiles

A large bronze mask depicting the god Pan was excavated at Hippos (Sussita). A video shows the discovery with the use of a metal detector. A press release from the University of Haifa has more details.

Members of the Israeli Caving Club discovered a cache of rare coins and other artifacts from the
Hellenistic period in northern Israel. That find is one of seven exciting discoveries made around the world this month.

An orange gem depicting the goddess Artemis has been discovered at the Herodium.

Luke Chandler reports that inscriptions from Khirbet Qeiyafa and Tel Lachish will be published soon.

A man walking on the beach at Ashkelon found some archaeological pieces.

Leen and Kathleen Ritmeyer’s guide to the Temple Mount has been published. Copies may be purchased from their website.

Clint Gilbert has recorded a Bible Lands Song which can help you or your students learn basic Bible geography.

Studies suggest that ancient people didn’t perceive the color blue because they didn’t have a word for it.

AWOL’s List of Open Access Journals in Ancient Studies now includes 1481 titles.

Sad news: Harry A. Hoffner passed away suddenly on Tuesday, March 10. Hoffner was a long-time professor of Hittitology at the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute. I am told that his two-volume commentary on 1-2 Samuel for the Evangelical Exegetical Commentary was recently submitted to the editor.

More sad news: “Hans G. Goedicke, a renowned Egyptologist who had been chairman of the Johns
Hopkins University’s department of Near Eastern studies, died of cancer Feb. 24.”

We’ll have more links tomorrow.

HT: Agade, Charles Savelle, Bill Schlegel, Joseph Lauer