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The Holy Land in a week · Stop 22 · Day 7
Mount Tabor
In the Bible
Jesus led Peter, James and John up a high mountain, and there He was transfigured before them. Long before, Barak came down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men against Sisera.
After six days Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.Then Deborah said to Barak, “Arise, for this is the day that the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the LORD gone before you?” So Barak came down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.Tradition
The Gospels do not name the mountain. By a tradition known since the 4th century, the Transfiguration took place on Tabor; another view proposes Mount Hermon.
Here today
On the summit, a Franciscan basilica completed in 1924 over Byzantine and Crusader ruins, and a Greek Orthodox monastery of the Transfiguration.
Through the eyes of old pilgrims
Tabor stands solitary and alone, a giant sentinel above the Plain of Esdraelon. It rises some fourteen hundred feet above the surrounding level, a green, wooden cone, symmetrical and full of grace.Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad, 1869
Mount Tabor has grown up from God wondrous and marvelous, beyond words and beautiful … and it stands in the midst of that fair plain like a round haystack … The whole mountain is stone, and climbing it is very hard and toilsome … we barely climbed it from the 3rd hour to the 9th hour, going fast.Abbot Daniel, 1106–1108 · our translation
Before you travel, check your country’s travel advice. Opening hours and the rules of the sites change — see their official pages.
Land outlines: Natural Earth (public domain).