country tomb of the virgin mary
A Christian ( or ) is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity , an Abrahamic , monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ . " Christian " derives from the Koine Greek word " Christós " (  ), a translation of the Biblical Hebrew term " mashiach ". Nazareth (" Narat " " Narath " " an - Nira ") is the capital and the largest city in the Northern District of ___MASK48___ . Nazareth is known as " the Arab capital of ___MASK48___ ". In its population was . The inhabitants are predominantly Arab citizens of ___MASK48___ , of whom 69 % are Muslim and 30 . 9 % Christian . Nazareth Illit ( lit . " Upper Nazareth ") is built alongside old Nazareth , and had a Jewish population of 40 , 312 in 2014 . The Jewish sector was declared a separate city in June 1974 . The Dead Sea ( lit . Salt Sea ), is a salt lake bordered by ___MASK6___ to the east and ___MASK48___ and Palestine to the west . Its surface and shores are below sea level , Earth ' s lowest elevation on land . The Dead Sea is deep , the deepest hypersaline lake in the world . With 34 . 2 % salinity ( in 2011 ), it is 9 . 6 times as salty as the ocean , and one of the world ' s saltiest bodies of water . This salinity makes for a harsh environment in which plants and animals cannot flourish , hence its name . The Dead Sea is long and wide at its widest point . It lies in the ___MASK6___ Rift Valley and its main tributary is the ___MASK6___ River . Religion is a cultural system of behaviors and practices , ___MASK80___ views , sacred texts , holy places , ethics , and societal organisation that relate humanity to what an anthropologist has called " an order of existence ". Different religions may or may not contain various elements , ranging from the " divine ", " sacred things ", " faith ", a " supernatural being or supernatural beings " or " some sort of ultimacy and transcendence that will provide norms and power for the rest of life ." Church of the Sepulchre of Saint Mary , also Tomb of the Virgin Mary , is a Christian tomb in the Kidron Valley -- at the foot of Mount of Olives , in ___MASK90___ -- believed by Eastern Christians to be the burial place of Mary , the mother of Jesus . Judaism ( from , derived from Greek , originally from Hebrew , " Yehudah ", " ___MASK30___ "; in Hebrew : , " Yahadut ", the distinctive characteristics of the Judean ethnos ) encompasses the religion , philosophy , culture and way of life of the Jewish people . Judaism is an ancient monotheistic religion , with the Torah as its foundational text ( part of the larger text known as the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible ), and supplemental oral tradition represented by later texts such as the Midrash and the Talmud . Judaism is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the covenantal relationship that God established with the Children of ___MASK48___ . With between 14 . 5 and 17 . 4 million adherents worldwide , Judaism is the tenth - largest religion in the world . Wadi al - Joz , also Wadi Joz , meaning Valley of the Walnuts , is an Arab ___MASK98___ in East ___MASK90___ , located at the head of the Kidron Valley , north of the Old City . The population of Wadi Joz is 13 , 000 . The Kingdom of ___MASK30___ (" Mamlekhet Yehudh ") was an Iron Age kingdom of the Southern Levant . The Hebrew Bible depicts it as the successor to a United Monarchy , but historians are divided about the veracity of this account . In the 10th and early 9th centuries BCE the territory of ___MASK30___ appears to have been sparsely populated , limited to small rural settlements , most of them unfortified . ___MASK90___ , the kingdom ' s capital , likely did not emerge as a significant administrative centre until the end of the 8th century , prior to this archaeological evidence suggests its population was too small to sustain a viable kingdom . In the 7th century its population increased greatly , prospering under Assyrian vassalage ( despite Hezekiah ' s revolt against the Assyrian king Sennacherib ), but in 605 the Assyrian Empire was defeated , and the ensuing competition between the Twenty - sixth Dynasty of ___MASK79___ and the Neo - Babylonian Empire for control of the Eastern Mediterranean led to the destruction of the kingdom in a series of campaigns between 597 and 582 , the deportation of the elite of the community , and the incorporation of ___MASK30___ into a province of the Neo - Babylonian Empire . The Acts of the Apostles (" Práxeis tôn Apostóln "), often referred to simply as Acts , is the fifth book of the New Testament ; it tells of the founding of the Christian church and the spread of its message to the ___MASK40___ . Jesus (; c . 4 BC  c . AD 30 / 33 ), also referred to as Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus Christ , was a Jewish preacher and religious leader who became the central figure of Christianity . Christians believe him to be the Son of God and the awaited Messiah ( Christ ) prophesied in the Old Testament . Virtually all modern scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed historically , although the quest for the historical Jesus has produced little agreement on the historical reliability of the Gospels and on how closely the biblical Jesus reflects the historical Jesus . Jesus was a Galilean Jew who was baptized by John the Baptist and subsequently began his own ministry , preaching his message orally and often being referred to as " rabbi ". He was arrested and tried by the Jewish authorities , and was crucified by the order of Pontius Pilate , the Roman prefect . Jesus debated fellow Jews on how to best follow God , performed healings , taught in parables and gathered followers . After his death , his followers believed he rose from the dead , and the community they formed eventually became the Christian Church . The Judaean Mountains or Judaean Hills (" Harei Yehuda ", " Jibal Al Khalil "), is a mountain range in ___MASK48___ and the West Bank where Jerusalem and several other biblical cities are located . The mountains reach a height of . The Judean Mountains can be separated to a number of sub - regions , including the Mount Hebron ridge , the Jerusalem ridge and the Judean slopes . These mountains formed the heartland of the Kingdom of Judah , where the earliest Jewish settlements emerged . The ___MASK18___ ("" " HaGadah HaMa ' aravit ") is a landlocked territory near the Mediterranean coast of Western Asia , forming the bulk of the ___MASK9___ . The ___MASK18___ shares boundaries ( demarcated by the Jordanian - Israeli armistice of 1949 ) to the west , north , and south with ___MASK48___ , and to the east , across the Jordan River , with Jordan . The ___MASK18___ also contains a significant section of the western Dead Sea shore . Elijah ( meaning " My God is Yahu / Jah ") or Elias (" Elías "; " Elye "; Arabic :  or  , " Ilys " or " Ily ") was a prophet and a miracle worker who lived in the northern kingdom of ___MASK48___ during the reign of Ahab ( 9th century BC ), according to the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible . According to the Books of Kings Elijah defended the worship of Yahweh over that of the Canaanite deity Baal . Yahweh also performed many miracles through Elijah , including resurrection ( raising the dead ), bringing fire down from the sky , and entering Heaven alive " by a whirlwind ". He is also portrayed as leading a school of prophets known as " the sons of the prophets ". After his death , Elisha his disciple and most devoted assistant took over his role as leader of this school . The Book of Malachi prophesies Elijah ' s return " before the coming of the great and terrible day of Yahweh ", making him a harbinger of the Messiah and of the eschaton in various faiths that revere the Hebrew Bible . References to Elijah appear in the Mishnah and Talmud , the New Testament , the Quran and the Bahá ' í writings . The Temple Mount (" Har HaBáyit ", " Mount of the House [ of God , i . e . the Temple ]"), known to Muslims as the Haram esh - Sharif (" al - aram al - Šarf ", " the Noble Sanctuary ", or , " al - aram al - Quds al - Šarf ", " the Noble Sanctuary of ___MASK90___ "), a hill located in the Old City of ___MASK90___ , is one of the most important religious sites in the world . It has been venerated as a holy site for thousands of years by Judaism , Christianity , and Islam . The present site is dominated by three monumental structures from the early Umayyad period : the al - Aqsa Mosque , the Dome of the Rock and the Dome of the Chain , as well as four minarets . Herodian walls and gates with additions dating back to the late Byzantine and early Islamic periods cut through the flanks of the Mount . Currently it can be reached through eleven gates , ten reserved for Muslims and one for non - Muslims , with guard posts of Israeli police in the vicinity of each . ___MASK48___ , officially known as the State of ___MASK48___ , is a country in the Middle East , on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea . It has land borders with Lebanon to the north , Syria to the northeast , Jordan on the east , the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the east and west , respectively , and Egypt to the southwest . The country contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area . ___MASK48___ ' s financial and technology center is Tel Aviv , while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem , although the state ' s sovereignty over the city of Jerusalem is internationally unrecognized . Islam (' ;) is a religion articulated by the Quran , a text considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of God ('), and , for the vast majority of adherents , the teachings and normative example ( called the " sunnah ", composed of accounts called " hadith ") of Muhammad ( 570  8 June 632 CE ). It is the ___MASK80___ ' s second - largest religion and the fastest - growing major religion in the ___MASK80___ , with over 1 . 7 billion followers or 23 % of the global population , known as Muslims . Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion that upholds that God is one and incomparable and that the purpose of existence is to worship God . Muslims consider Muhammad to be the last prophet of God . Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ , who serves as the focal point for the religion . It is the ___MASK80___ ' s largest religion , with over 2 . 4 billion followers , or 33 % of the global population , known as Christians . Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the savior of humanity whose coming as the Messiah ( the Christ ) was prophesied in the Old Testament . The Kidron Valley ( classical transliteration , " Cedron ", from , " Naal Qidron "; also Qidron Valley " Wadi al - Joz " for the upper segment near the Temple Mount , and " Wadi an - Nar " for the rest of it ) is the valley on the eastern side of The Old City of ___MASK90___ , separating the Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives . It continues east through the Judean Desert in the West Bank , towards the Dead Sea , descending 4000 feet along its 20 - mile course . The settlement Kedar , located on a ridge above the valley , is named after it . The ___MASK98___ of Wadi al - Joz bears the valley ' s Arabic name . The Hebrew Bible calls it " Emek Yehoshafat ", the " Valley of Jehoshaphat ". It appears in Jewish eschatologic prophecies , which include the return of Elijah , followed by the arrival of the Messiah , and the War of Gog and Magog and Judgment Day . The Mount of Olives or Mount Olivet (" Har ha - Zeitim " " Jabal al - Zaytun ", " Al - Tur ") is a mountain ridge east of and adjacent to ___MASK90___ ' s Old City . It is named for the olive groves that once covered its slopes . The southern part of the Mount was the Silwan necropolis , attributed to the ancient Judean kingdom . The Mount has been used as a Jewish cemetery for over 3 , 000 years and holds approximately 150 , 000 graves , making it central in the tradition of Jewish cemeteries . Several key events in the life of Jesus , as related in the Gospels , took place on the Mount of Olives , and in the Acts of the Apostles it is described as the place from which Jesus ascended to heaven . Because of its association with both Jesus and Mary , the Mount has been a site of Christian worship since ancient times and is today a major site of pilgrimage for Catholics , the Eastern Orthodox , and Protestants . ___MASK90___ , is a city located on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea . One of the oldest cities in the world , ___MASK90___ was named as "" Urusalima "" on ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets , probably meaning " City of Shalem " after a Canaanite deity , during the early Canaanite period ( approximately 2400 BCE ). During the Israelite period , significant construction activity in ___MASK90___ began in the 9th century BCE ( Iron Age II ), and in the 8th century the city developed into the religious and administrative center of the Kingdom of Judah . It is considered a holy city in the three major Abrahamic religions of Judaism , Christianity and Islam . Canaan ( Northwest Semitic : ""; Phoenician :  ; Biblical Hebrew / Masoretic : ["; n  an ]") was a Semitic - speaking region in the Ancient Near East during the late 2nd millennium BC . In the Bible it corresponds to the Levant , in particular to the areas of the Southern Levant that provide the main setting of the narrative of the Hebrew Bible , i . e ., the area of ___MASK48___ , Philistia , Phoenicia , and other nations . Silwan is a predominantly Palestinian ___MASK98___ on the outskirts of the Old City of ___MASK90___ . Forty Jewish families also live in the area . Silwan is located in East ___MASK90___ . After the 1948 war , the village fell under Jordanian occupation . Jordanian rule lasted until the 1967 Six - Day War , since which it has been occupied by ___MASK48___ . Silwan is administered as part of the ___MASK90___ Municipality , and is part of the J1 sub - district of the ___MASK90___ Governorate . Biblical Hebrew (" Ivrit Miqra ' it " or " Leshon ha - Miqra "), also called Classical Hebrew , is an archaic form of Hebrew , a Canaanite Semitic language spoken by the Israelites in the area known as ___MASK48___ , roughly west of the Jordan River and east of the Mediterranean Sea . The term " Hebrew " was not used for the language in the Bible , which was referred to as Canaanite or Judahite , but the name was used in Greek and Mishnaic Hebrew texts . Biblical Hebrew is attested from about the 10th century BCE , and persisted through and beyond the Second Temple period , which ended in the siege of Jerusalem ( AD 70 ).