A region in Mesopotamia between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers; another name for Babylonia.
About Shinar
Shinar was a region in ancient Babylonia (modern-day southern Iraq). Shinar is the name for a district of Babylonia mentioned only in the Bible.
The area stretched from where Baghdad is now located to the Persian Gulf. This region included two important ancient territories: Sumer in the south and Akkad in the north. Later, people called this entire area Babylonia (Daniel 1:2, see marginal note).
Key References
And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
“To build a house for it in the land of Shinar,” he told me. “And when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its pedestal.”
All Scripture References (8)
Genesis (4)
His kingdom began in Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
In those days Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim
against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five.
Joshua (1)
When I saw among the spoils a beautiful cloak from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”
Isaiah (1)
On that day the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover the remnant of His people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
Daniel (1)
And the Lord delivered into his hand Jehoiakim king of Judah, along with some of the articles from the house of God. He carried these off to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, where he put them in the treasury of his god.
Zechariah (1)
“To build a house for it in the land of Shinar,” he told me. “And when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its pedestal.”