Jezreel (city)

Tell Jezreel is located just east of the watershed that separates the Jezreel Valley (to the west) and the Harod Valley (to the east).

Jezreel is mentioned numerous times in the Hebrew Bible. It was assigned to the tribe of Issachar (Josh 19:17-18) and it was at its spring that Saul mustered his troops before battling the Philistines (1 Sam 29:1). Apparently the northern kings had a royal residence there for Ahab fled there after Elijah's confrontation with the prophets of Baal and Asherah on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:45-46) and it was there that Ahab coveted Naboth's vineyard that was beside his palace (1 Kgs 21:1 and all of chapter 21). There, Joram and Jezebel were killed and the southern king Ahaziah was wounded (eventually dying of his wounds).