How far is it from Jerusalem to Galilee?

Question

Accepted Answer

Nazareth, in the hills of Lower Galilee, is about 105 km north of Jerusalem in a straight line and 146 km by the road on the map; Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee is about 125 km away in a straight line, and the lake itself about 120 km. On foot the way took several days: at 30 km a day the road to Nazareth is five days, and Josephus says that the journey from Galilee to Jerusalem through Samaria took three days for those who hurried. The Gospels have the family of Jesus walk it every year: "Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover", and on the way home from the feast when he was twelve they "went a day's journey" before they missed him. Two roads were used. The direct road ran along the hills through Samaria: "And he must needs go through Samaria", John says of Jesus' return to Galilee, and Luke tells of a Samaritan village that would not receive him "because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem". The other road went down the Jordan valley and climbed from Jericho, which is the way the Gospels describe for his last journey; on the map it measures 22 km from Jericho to Bethany and 4 km more to Jerusalem. In the time of Jesus the two lands were ruled separately: Judea had been a Roman province under a prefect since AD 6, while Galilee belonged to Herod Antipas, the tetrarch, which is why Pilate sent Jesus to Herod when he heard that he was a Galilean. Within Galilee the distances are small: Nazareth to Capernaum is about 33 km in a straight line and 50 km by the road on the map, and Capernaum to Bethsaida about 6 km, wherever exactly Bethsaida stood.