Bible History
Bible History

Map of Ancient Nubia

You are here: Home Biblical Geography Maps Map of Ancient Nubia

Map of Nubia in Ancient Egypt

During the time of Moses and the Exodus the land of Egypt was divided into Upper and Lower Egypt. Lower Egypt was the northern region closer to the Mediterranean Sea, the Nile Delta.

The Nile Delta was a triangular area of marshland about 150 miles from north to south, from Memphis to the Mediterranean, and about 150 - 200 miles wide.

Upper Egypt was a bit further south from Lower Egypt, starting at Memphis (bottom of the Nile Delta Triangle) and extended for about 600 miles down the Nile River Valley to Elephantine (Aswan). Nubia was much farther south, and the Greeks and Romans described Nubia as "Ethiopia" and the Hebrews referred to Nubia as "Cush", the land south of Egypt.

Number 12:1 - And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.

Genesis 10:8 - And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.

Exodus 14:1-2 - And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea.

Exodus 14:21-22 - And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.

The Nile River in Nubia


Ethiopia in Smith's Bible Dictionary

Ethiopia
(burnt faces). The country which the Greeks and Romans described as "AEthiopia" and the Hebrews as "Cush" lay to the south of Egypt, and embraced, in its most extended sense, the modern Nubia, Sennaar, Kordofan and northern Abyssinia, and in its more definite sense the kingdom of Meroe. Eze 29:10 The Hebrews do not appear to have had much practical acquaintance with Ethiopia itself, though the Ethiopians were well known to them through their intercourse with Egypt. The inhabitants of Ethiopia were a Hamitic race. Ge 10:6 They were divided into various tribes, of which the Sabeans were the most powerful. The history of Ethiopia is closely interwoven with that of Egypt. The two countries were not unfrequently united under the rule of the same sovereign. Shortly before our Saviour's birth a native dynasty of females, holding the official title of Candace (Plin. vi. 35), held sway in Ethiopia, and even resisted the advance of the Roman arms. One of these is the queen noticed in Ac 8:27

Cush in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE

4. The Ethiopian Cush:
(3) The well-known country of Cush or Ethiopia, from Syene (Ezek 29:10) southward--Egyptian Kos, Babylonian Kusu, Assyrian Kusu. This name sometimes denotes the land (Isa 11:11; 18:1; Zeph 3:10; Ezek 29:10; Job 28:19; Est 1:1; 8:9); sometimes the peopl (Isa 20:4; Jer 46:9; Ezek 38:5); but is in many passages uncertain. Notwithstanding that the descendants of Ham are always regarded as non-Semites, the Ethiopians, Ge`ez, as they called themselves, spoke a Semitic language of special interest on account of its likeness to Himyaritic, and its illustration of certain forms in Assyro-Babylonian. These Cushites were in all probability migrants from another (more northerly) district, and akin to the Canaanites--like them, dark, but by no means black, and certainly not Negroes. W. Max Muller (Asien und Europa, 113 note) states that it cannot be proved whether the Egyptians had quite black neighbors (on the South). In earlier times they are represented as brown, and later as brown mingled with black, implying that negroes only came to their knowledge as a distinct and extensive race in comparatively late times. Moses' (first?) wife (Nu 12:1) was certainly therefore not a Negress, but simply a Cushite woman, probably speaking a Semitic language--prehistoric Ge`ez or Ethiopian (see CUSHITE WOMAN). In all probability Semitic tribes were classed as Hamitic simply because they acknowledged the supremacy of the Hamitic Egyptians, just as the non-Sem Elamites were set down as Semites (Gen 10:22) on account of their acknowledging Babylonian supremacy. It is doubtful whether the Hebrews, in ancient times, knew of the Negro race--they probably became acquainted with them long after the Egyptians. Full Article

Cush in Smith's Bible Dictionary

Cush (2)
The name of a son of Ham, apparently the eldest, and of a territory or territories occupied by his descendants. The Cushites appear to have spread along tracts extending from the higher Nile to the Euphrates and Tigris. History affords many traces of this relation of Babylonia, Arabia and Ethiopia. Full Article

Cush in Wikipedia

Cush
The name given this civilization comes from the Old Testament where Cush (Hebrew: כוש) was one of the sons of Ham (Genesis 10:6) who settled in Northeast Africa. In the Bible and at different times in the ancient world, a large region covering northern Sudan, modern day southern Egypt, and parts of Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia was known as "Cush". The Hebrew Bible refers to "Cush" on a number of occasions, though various English translations translate this as "Nubian", "Ethiopia", "Sudan", and "Cushite" (Unseth 1999). Moses wife, Tzipporah, is described as a Kushite in the book of Numbers 12:1. Some contend that this Cush was in southern Arabia. See Biblical Cush for a full discussion. All of this is complicated by the fact that the Septuagint translated "Cush" as "Aethiopia", leading to the misleading conclusion that "Cush" should be equated with the borders of present day "Ethiopia". Cain Hope Felder, in the introduction to his The Original African Heritage Study Bible has argued that "Cush" should always be translated as simply "Africa". Full Article

The Bible Mentions "Cush" Many Times

Genesis 10:7 - And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.

1 Chronicles 1:9 - And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabta, and Raamah, and Sabtecha. And the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.

Psalms 7:1 - Cush the Benjamite.> O LORD my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me:

Isaiah 11:11 - And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

Genesis 10:8 - And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.

1 Chronicles 1:10 - And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be mighty upon the earth.

Genesis 10:6 - And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.

1 Chronicles 1:8 - The sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.

The Bible Mentions "Ethiopia" Many Times

Esther 8:9 - Then were the king's scribes called at that time in the third month, that [is], the month Sivan, on the three and twentieth [day] thereof; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded unto the Jews, and to the lieutenants, and the deputies and rulers of the provinces which [are] from India unto Ethiopia, an hundred twenty and seven provinces, unto every province according to the writing thereof, and unto every people after their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language.

Isaiah 45:14 - Thus saith the LORD, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, [saying], Surely God [is] in thee; and [there is] none else, [there is] no God.

Ezekiel 30:4 - And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down.

Esther 1:1 - Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, (this [is] Ahasuerus which reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, [over] an hundred and seven and twenty provinces:)

Isaiah 37:9 - And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard [it], he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

Ezekiel 29:10 - Behold, therefore I [am] against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste [and] desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia.

Acts 8:27 - And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,

Isaiah 20:3 - And the LORD said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years [for] a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia;

Isaiah 43:3 - For I [am] the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt [for] thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.

Ezekiel 30:5 - Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the mingled people, and Chub, and the men of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword.

2 Kings 19:9 - And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying,

Psalms 87:4 - I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this [man] was born there.

Zephaniah 3:10 - From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, [even] the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering.

Job 28:19 - The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold.

Isaiah 20:5 - And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory.

Nahum 3:9 - Ethiopia and Egypt [were] her strength, and [it was] infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.

Genesis 2:13 - And the name of the second river [is] Gihon: the same [is] it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.

Psalms 68:31 - Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.

Isaiah 18:1 - Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which [is] beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:

Ezekiel 38:5 - Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet

Table of Contents

61 Bible Translations

Popular Articles

Explore the Bible Like Never Before!

Bible History Online

Bible Study Tools

Top Tags