Ezra’s return from Babylon

The Book of Ezra names where the returns began and ended — and, for Ezra’s company, the Ahava Canal, whose site is not known — but does not describe the road. The straight line is not the way they went.

Lines join the stops in the order of the text — the roads themselves are not known. Dashed: by ship. Pale: the site is uncertain.

Stops

1. 1
   BabylonEzra 7:9He had begun the journey from Babylon on the first day of the first month, and he arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month, for the gracious hand of his God was upon him.
2. 2
   AhavaEzra 8:15Now I assembled these exiles at the canal that flows to Ahava, and we camped there three days. And when I searched among the people and priests, I found no Levites there.
3. 3
   JerusalemEzra 8:32So we arrived at Jerusalem and rested there for three days.

Each point is the most likely site (OpenBible.info); a pale point means the identification is uncertain. Places whose site is unknown are not on the map.