Explore › Pilgrims › The Holy Land in a week › Shepherds' Field, Beit Sahour
The Holy Land in a week · Stop 10 · Day 3
Shepherds' Field, Beit Sahour
In the Bible
Shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night near Bethlehem heard an angel tell of the Savior's birth, and a multitude of the heavenly host praising God.
And there were shepherds residing in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night. Just then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! For behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord! And this will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there appeared with the angel a great multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests!” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”Tradition
Two fields in Beit Sahour are shown as the place where the shepherds heard the news, a Franciscan one and a Greek Orthodox one, both with caves and ruins of Byzantine churches.
Here today
The Franciscan chapel of the Angels to the Shepherds, built in 1953 in the shape of a tent, stands among olives near caves once used by shepherds.
Through the eyes of old pilgrims
… we reached the Plain of the Shepherds, and stood in a walled garden of olives where the shepherds were watching their flocks by night, eighteen centuries ago, when the multitude of angels brought them the tidings that the Saviour was born.Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad, 1869
And from there is a place below the hill, in a field, a verst east of the Nativity; there the holy angels announced the birth of Christ to the shepherds. And there was a cave there; over that cave a fine church had been built in the name of Saint Joseph … and the place is called Agiapimina, which means “the holy flock.”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).