Canaan
כְּנַ֫עַן · ke.na.an · H3667AΧαναάν · Chanaan · G54772 other spellings“merchant; trader; or that humbles and subdues” Hitchcock's 1869146 mentions in 19 books, most in Genesis (48)
Where it is
31.69° N, 34.84° E · Located through Gath · region
Coordinates and map: OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding · CC BY 4.0 · drawn without map tiles
Mentioned most in
Counted from 146 references · STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0
About this place
Canaan refers to both a region and a people group in the Bible. As a region, Canaan was the ancient name for the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and parts of Syria and Jordan. It was the land God promised to give to Abraham and his descendants (Genesis 12:5-7; 17:8).
The Canaanites were the descendants of Canaan, the grandson of Noah through Ham (Genesis 10:18-19). They were known for their idolatry and wickedness, which led to God commanding the Israelites to drive them out of the land (Deu.20.17). The term "Canaanite" was also used to refer to merchants or traders (Job.41.6; Proverbs 31:24), possibly due to their reputation for trading.
After the Exodus, the Israelites conquered parts of Canaan under Joshua's leadership, but they failed to completely drive out the Canaanites (Judges 1:27-36). This led to ongoing conflicts and religious influences throughout Israel's history. The prophets often rebuked Israel for adopting Canaanite practices and worshipping their gods (Ezk.16.3).
Article: STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0
Every mention
146 references, counted from STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0 · verse text: World English Bible (public domain)
Genesis48 mentions
Genesis 10:18the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the families of the Canaanites were spread abroad.Genesis 10:19The border of the Canaanites was from Sidon—as you go toward Gerar—to Gaza—as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim—to Lasha.Genesis 11:31Terah took Abram his son, Lot the son of Haran, his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife. They went from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. They…Genesis 12:5Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother’s son, all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they went to go into the land of Canaan.…Genesis 12:6Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time, Canaanites were in the land.Genesis 13:7There was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites lived in the land at that time.Genesis 13:12Abram lived in the land of Canaan, and Lot lived in the cities of the plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom.Genesis 15:21the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”Genesis 16:3Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife.Genesis 17:8I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are traveling, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. I will be their God.”Genesis 23:2Sarah died in Kiriath Arba (also called Hebron), in the land of Canaan. Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.Genesis 23:19After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre (that is, Hebron), in the land of Canaan.Genesis 24:3I will make you swear by Yahweh, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live.Genesis 24:37My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live,Genesis 28:1Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, “You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.Genesis 28:6Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram, to take him a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a command, saying, “You shall not take a…Genesis 28:8Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan didn’t please Isaac, his father.Genesis 31:18and he took away all his livestock, and all his possessions which he had gathered, including the livestock which he had gained in Paddan Aram, to go to Isaac his father, to the land of…Genesis 33:18Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan Aram; and encamped before the city.Genesis 34:30Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number. They will gather…Genesis 35:6So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him.Genesis 36:2Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon, the Hittite; and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, the Hivite;Genesis 36:5Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau, who were born to him in the land of Canaan.Genesis 36:6Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, with his livestock, all his animals, and all his possessions, which he had gathered in the land of…Genesis 37:1Jacob lived in the land of his father’s travels, in the land of Canaan.Genesis 38:2There, Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite man named Shua. He took her, and went in to her.Genesis 42:5The sons of Israel came to buy among those who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.Genesis 42:7Joseph saw his brothers, and he recognized them, but acted like a stranger to them, and spoke roughly with them. He said to them, “Where did you come from?” They said, “From the land of…Genesis 42:13They said, “We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is today with our father, and one is no more.”Genesis 42:29They came to Jacob their father, to the land of Canaan, and told him all that had happened to them, saying,Genesis 42:32We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is today with our father in the land of Canaan.’Genesis 44:8Behold, the money, which we found in our sacks’ mouths, we brought again to you out of the land of Canaan. How then should we steal silver or gold out of your lord’s house?Genesis 45:17Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals, and go, travel to the land of Canaan.Genesis 45:25They went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan, to Jacob their father.Genesis 46:6They took their livestock, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt—Jacob, and all his offspring with him,Genesis 46:12The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.Genesis 46:31Joseph said to his brothers, and to his father’s house, “I will go up, and speak with Pharaoh, and will tell him, ‘My brothers, and my father’s house, who were in the land of Canaan, have…Genesis 47:1Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks, their herds, and all that they own, have come out of the land of Canaan; and behold, they are…Genesis 47:4They also said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live as foreigners in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks. For the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now…Genesis 47:13There was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.Genesis 47:14Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.Genesis 47:15When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, “Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For our…Genesis 48:3Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,Genesis 48:7As for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was still some distance to come to Ephrath, and I buried her there on the way to…Genesis 49:30in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a burial place.Genesis 50:5‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am dying. Bury me in my grave which I have dug for myself in the land of Canaan.” Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I…Genesis 50:11When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians.” Therefore its name was called Abel…Genesis 50:13for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, as a possession for a burial site, from Ephron…
Exodus11 mentions
Exodus 3:8I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of…Exodus 3:17I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with…Exodus 6:4I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their travels, in which they lived as aliens.Exodus 13:5It shall be, when Yahweh brings you into the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land…Exodus 13:11“It shall be, when Yahweh brings you into the land of the Canaanite, as he swore to you and to your fathers, and will give it to you,Exodus 15:15Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed. Trembling takes hold of the mighty men of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.Exodus 16:35The children of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land. They ate the manna until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan.Exodus 23:23For my angel shall go before you, and bring you in to the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I will cut them off.Exodus 23:28I will send the hornet before you, which will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before you.Exodus 33:2I will send an angel before you; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.Exodus 34:11Observe that which I command you today. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
Leviticus3 mentions
Leviticus 14:34“When you have come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put a spreading mildew in a house in the land of your possession,Leviticus 18:3You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived. You shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. You shall not follow their statutes.Leviticus 25:38I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.
Numbers17 mentions
Numbers 13:2“Send men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel. Of every tribe of their fathers, you shall send a man, every one a prince among them.”Numbers 13:17Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, “Go up this way by the South, and go up into the hill country.Numbers 13:29Amalek dwells in the land of the South. The Hittite, the Jebusite, and the Amorite dwell in the hill country. The Canaanite dwells by the sea, and along the side of the Jordan.”Numbers 14:25Since the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley, tomorrow turn and go into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”Numbers 14:43For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and you will fall by the sword because you turned back from following Yahweh; therefore Yahweh will not be with you.”Numbers 14:45Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites who lived in that mountain, and struck them and beat them down even to Hormah.Numbers 21:1The Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the South, heard that Israel came by the way of Atharim. He fought against Israel, and took some of them captive.Numbers 21:3Yahweh listened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. The name of the place was called Hormah.Numbers 26:19The sons of Judah: Er and Onan. Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan.Numbers 32:30but if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.”Numbers 32:32We will pass over armed before Yahweh into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us beyond the Jordan.”Numbers 33:40The Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the South in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the children of Israel.Numbers 33:51Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, “When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,Numbers 34:2“Command the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you come into the land of Canaan (this is the land that shall fall to you for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan according to its…Numbers 34:29These are they whom Yahweh commanded to divide the inheritance to the children of Israel in the land of Canaan.Numbers 35:10“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,Numbers 35:14You shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and you shall give three cities in the land of Canaan. They shall be cities of refuge.
Deuteronomy5 mentions
Deuteronomy 1:7Turn, and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all the places near there: in the Arabah, in the hill country, in the lowland, in the South, by the seashore…Deuteronomy 7:1When Yahweh your God brings you into the land where you go to possess it, and casts out many nations before you—the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the…Deuteronomy 11:30Aren’t they beyond the Jordan, behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the Arabah near Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?Deuteronomy 20:17but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, as Yahweh your God has commanded you;Deuteronomy 32:49“Go up into this mountain of Abarim, to Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is across from Jericho; and see the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel for a…
Joshua22 mentions
Joshua 3:10Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the…Joshua 5:1When all the kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard how Yahweh had dried up the waters of the Jordan…Joshua 5:12The manna ceased on the next day, after they had eaten of the produce of the land. The children of Israel didn’t have manna any more, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that…Joshua 7:9For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. What will you do for your great name?”Joshua 9:1When all the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill country, and in the lowland, and on all the shore of the great sea in front of Lebanon, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite…Joshua 11:3to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite in the hill country, and the Hivite under Hermon in the land of Mizpah.Joshua 12:8in the hill country, and in the lowland, and in the Arabah, and in the slopes, and in the wilderness, and in the South; the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the…Joshua 13:3from the Shihor, which is before Egypt, even to the border of Ekron northward, which is counted as Canaanite; the five lords of the Philistines; the Gazites, and the Ashdodites, the…Joshua 13:4on the south; all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that belongs to the Sidonians, to Aphek, to the border of the Amorites;Joshua 14:1These are the inheritances which the children of Israel took in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of…Joshua 16:10They didn’t drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwell in the territory of Ephraim to this day, and have become servants to do forced labor.Joshua 17:12Yet the children of Manasseh couldn’t drive out the inhabitants of those cities; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.Joshua 17:13When the children of Israel had grown strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, and didn’t utterly drive them out.Joshua 17:16The children of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us. All the Canaanites who dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both those who are in Beth Shean and its…Joshua 17:18but the hill country shall be yours. Although it is a forest, you shall cut it down, and it’s farthest extent shall be yours; for you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have…Joshua 21:2They spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, “Yahweh commanded through Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with their pasture lands for our livestock.”Joshua 22:9The children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the children of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the…Joshua 22:10When they came to the region near the Jordan, that is in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the…Joshua 22:11The children of Israel heard this, “Behold, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar along the border of the land of Canaan, in the…Joshua 22:32Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the princes, returned from the children of Reuben, and from the children of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, to the land of Canaan, to the…Joshua 24:3I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his offspring, and gave him Isaac.Joshua 24:11“‘You went over the Jordan, and came to Jericho. The men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Hivite, and the…
Judges21 mentions
Judges 1:1After the death of Joshua, the children of Israel asked of Yahweh, saying, “Who should go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them?”Judges 1:3Judah said to Simeon his brother, “Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with you into your lot.” So Simeon went with him.Judges 1:4Judah went up, and Yahweh delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand. They struck ten thousand men in Bezek.Judges 1:5They found Adoni-Bezek in Bezek, and they fought against him. They struck the Canaanites and the Perizzites.Judges 1:9After that, the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, and in the South, and in the lowland.Judges 1:10Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron. (The name of Hebron before that was Kiriath Arba.) They struck Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.Judges 1:17Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they struck the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. The name of the city was called Hormah.Judges 1:27Manasseh didn’t drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shean and its towns, nor Taanach and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and its towns, nor…Judges 1:28When Israel had grown strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, and didn’t utterly drive them out.Judges 1:29Ephraim didn’t drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, but the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.Judges 1:30Zebulun didn’t drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites lived among them, and became subject to forced labor.Judges 1:32but the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they didn’t drive them out.Judges 1:33Naphtali didn’t drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth Anath; but he lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless the inhabitants…Judges 3:1Now these are the nations which Yahweh left, to test Israel by them, even as many as had not known all the wars of Canaan;Judges 3:3the five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath.Judges 3:5The children of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.Judges 4:2Yahweh sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth of the Gentiles.Judges 4:23So God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel on that day.Judges 4:24The hand of the children of Israel prevailed more and more against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.Judges 5:19“The kings came and fought, then the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo. They took no plunder of silver.Judges 21:12They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young virgins who had not known man by lying with him; and they brought them to the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of…
1 Chronicles2 mentions
Nehemiah2 mentions
Nehemiah 9:8found his heart faithful before you, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, to give it…Nehemiah 9:24“So the children went in and possessed the land; and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hands, with their kings and the peoples…
Psalms3 mentions
Psalms 105:11saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance,”Psalms 106:38They shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted with blood.Psalms 135:11Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan—
Isaiah2 mentions
Isaiah 19:18In that day, there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan, and swear to Yahweh of Armies. One will be called “The city of destruction.”Isaiah 23:11He has stretched out his hand over the sea. He has shaken the kingdoms. Yahweh has ordered the destruction of Canaan’s strongholds.
Ezekiel2 mentions
Ezekiel 16:3and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says to Jerusalem: “Your origin and your birth is of the land of the Canaanite. An Amorite was your father, and your mother was a Hittite.Ezekiel 16:29You have moreover multiplied your prostitution to the land of merchants, to Chaldea; and yet you weren’t satisfied with this.
What the dictionary says
(1.) The fourth son of Ham (Gen. 10:6).
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
Read the article →Sources
- STEPBible TIPNR · Translators Individualised Proper Names with all References · CC BY 4.0 · github.com/STEPBible/STEPBible-Data
- OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding · CC BY 4.0 · www.openbible.info/geo/
- Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (1869) · Public domain