The New Testament World

Isaiah 55:5 - Behold, thou shalt call a nation [that] thou knowest not, and nations [that] knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the LORD thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee. 

The New Testament - A Brief Overview

Map of the World During New Testament Times

Color Map - Click here for the map of the New Testament World in color.

The Nations

This map reveals the "Nations" within the ancient world during the first century A.D., the time of the New Testament. The map includes the areas of Israel, Asia, Greece, and Italy. (View Clickable Map of the Roman Empire)

Matthew 28:18-20 - "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world."

Luke 24:46-49 "And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high."

During the life of Jesus his ministry took place primarily in the land of Israel. Later the church which was led by his apostles eventually moved outside of Jerusalem and later the actual boundaries of the land of Israel. Paul purposed in his heart to go further with the gospel, to the lands of Europe and even the heart of the Roman Empire, the city of Rome herself. Therefore the New Testament World is designated as the area from the Land of Israel on the east to Italy on the west.

The Seas (6 Great Seas)

There were six important seas in the New Testament World, some are mentioned in the Gospels and the Book of Acts.

1. The Mediterranean Sea which bordered the land of Israel on the east as far as Italy on the east.

2. The Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias, mainly associated with the life of Jesus.

3. The Dead Sea, Although it was not mentioned in the New Testament it was in southern Israel.

4. The Black Sea, it was just north of Asia Minor.

5. The Aegean Sea, located between Asia Minor and Greece.

6. The Adriatic Sea, located between Greece and Italy.

The Islands (5 Islands in NT History)

There were five islands important in the New Testament.

1. Cyprus was located in the northeast corner of the Mediterranean Sea.

2. Crete was located south of the Aegean Sea, between Asia Minor and Greece.

3. Patmos was located in the Aegean Sea, not far from the city of Ephesus.

4. Sicily located southwest of Italy.

5. Malta or Melita in NT times, located south of Sicily.

Roman Provinces in Europe (5 Provinces)

1. Thrace was the land bordering the southwest corner of the Black Sea.

2. Macedonia was the land at the northeast corner of the Aegean Sea, in-between Thrace, Illyricum, and Greece.

3. Greece or Achaea was the land southwest of Macedonia, bordering 3 seas.

4. Illyricum was the land north of Greece, northwest of Macedonia, and the eastern portion of the Adriatic Sea.

5. Italy was the country across the Adriatic Sea from Greece and Illyricum. Rome was the capital of Italy.

Roman Provinces in Africa (3 Provinces)

1. Africa was the land bordering the Mediterranean in the southern middle.

2. Libya was the land west of Egypt.

3. Egypt was the land at the southeast of the Mediterranean Sea.

Roman Provinces in Asia and the East (5 Provinces)

1. Asia was the land in the western region of Anatolia (Ancient Turkey).

2. Pontus and Bithynia was the land in northern region of Anatolia. It was a senatorial province governed by a proconsul.

2. Galatia was situated in the region of central Anatolia.

3. Cappadocia was the land south of Galatia in central Anatolia.

4. Cilicia was the land below Cappadocia below the Taurus Mountains bordering the Mediterranean Sea.

5. Syria was the land north of Israel bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Syria was a joint province with Cilicia, and the governor had authority over Galilee and Judea including any client kings, tetrarchs, or procurators.

Judaea was under the authority of Herod the Great and later was under the authority of the governor of Syria.

Important Cities (12 Cities)

1. Alexandria, the commercial metropolis of Egypt.
2. Jerusalem, the religious capital of the Jewish world.
3. Caesarea, the Roman capital of Judea.
4. Damascus, in the southern part of Syria.
5. Antioch, the capital of Syria, in the north.
6. Tarsus, the birthplace of Paul, in Cilicia.
7. Ephesus, the metropolis of Asia Minor, in the province of Asia.
8. Philippi, in Thrace, where the gospel was first preached in Europe.
9. Thessalonica, the principal city in Macedonia.
10. Athens, the literary center of Greece.
11. Corinth, the political capital of Greece.
12. Rome, the imperial city.

Bible Cities

Italy
Rome
Three Taverns
Appius Forum
Puteoli
Neapolis
Buxentum
Croton
Rhegium
Messana
Syracuse

Greece
Neapolis
Philippi
Amphipolis
Apollonia
Thessalonica
Berea
Mount Olympus
Athens
Cenchreae
Corinth
Nicopolis
Apollonia

Asia Minor
Seleucia
Antioch
Tarsus
Salamis
Paphos
Selinus
Derbe
Lystra
Iconium
Antioch
Perga
Attalia
Colossae
Hierapolis
Laodicea
Philadelphia
Sardes
Ephesus
Miletus
Smyrna
Pergamum
Rhodes

Israel
Bethlehem
Bethphage
Bethsaida Julias
Caesarea Philippi Paneas
Cana
Capernaum
Chorazin
Decapolis
Gennesaret
Jericho
Jerusalem
Nain
Nazareth
Sidon
Sychar
Tyre
 

The Bible Mentions the "Nations"

Jeremiah 30:11 - For I [am] with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished. 

Isaiah 29:8 - It shall even be as when an hungry [man] dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, [he is] faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion. 

Joshua 23:3 - And ye have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto all these nations because of you; for the LORD your God [is] he that hath fought for you. 

Isaiah 17:12 - Woe to the multitude of many people, [which] make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, [that] make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters! 

Jeremiah 46:28 - Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I [am] with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished. 

Jeremiah 50:2 - Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, [and] conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces. 

Genesis 17:6 - And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. 

Isaiah 66:20 - And they shall bring all your brethren [for] an offering unto the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the LORD, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD. 

Deuteronomy 9:4 - Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee. 

Ezekiel 29:12 - And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries [that are] desolate, and her cities among the cities [that are] laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. 

2 Chronicles 32:14 - Who [was there] among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people out of mine hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of mine hand? 

Ezekiel 38:8 - After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land [that is] brought back from the sword, [and is] gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them. 

2 Chronicles 32:17 - He wrote also letters to rail on the LORD God of Israel, and to speak against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of [other] lands have not delivered their people out of mine hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver his people out of mine hand. 

Deuteronomy 31:3 - The LORD thy God, he will go over before thee, [and] he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them: [and] Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as the LORD hath said. 

Nehemiah 13:26 - Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin. 

Deuteronomy 4:19 - And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, [even] all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. 

Ezekiel 32:2 - Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou [art] as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers. 

Deuteronomy 30:3 - That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee. 

Daniel 7:14 - And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion [is] an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom [that] which shall not be destroyed. 

Isaiah 55:5 - Behold, thou shalt call a nation [that] thou knowest not, and nations [that] knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the LORD thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee. 

Nehemiah 9:22 - Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and nations, and didst divide them into corners: so they possessed the land of Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan. 

Deuteronomy 28:12 - The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. 

Revelation 11:18 - And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. 

Genesis 27:29 - Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed [be] every one that curseth thee, and blessed [be] he that blesseth thee. 

2 Kings 17:26 - Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land. 

Deuteronomy 9:5 - Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 

Deuteronomy 28:1 - And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe [and] to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 

Jeremiah 3:19 - But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me. 

Jeremiah 29:14 - And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive. 

Jeremiah 46:12 - The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the land: for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, [and] they are fallen both together.