Mounts Gerizim and Ebal

Mounts Gerizim and Ebal

The mountains of blessing and curse

Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal stand on either side of the valley at Shechem, the modern city of Nablus. In Deuteronomy and Joshua, the Israelites stood on the two mountains to hear blessings and curses read after crossing the Jordan. Gerizim is the holy mountain of the Samaritans, one of the world's smallest and oldest religious communities, whose few hundred members still hold a Passover sacrifice on its summit. Archaeologists have found the remains of an ancient Samaritan temple on Gerizim and a stone structure on Ebal that some identify as an altar. The area is under mixed Israeli and Palestinian administration.

Glossary: Mounts Gerizim and Ebal