CHINNERETH, CHINNEROTH kĭn’ ə rĕth, rŏth (כִּנֶּ֖רֶת, כִּֽנֲרֹ֖ות, B has Κεναρέθ, A has Χενερόθ. Cheneroth, meaning “harps.”) An old name for (1) the Sea of Galilee, (2) an area near it, and (3) a city in that area.

The first spelling occurs in Numbers 34:11; Deuteronomy 3:17; Joshua 13:27 and 19:35; the second in Joshua 11:2; 12:3 and 1 Kings 15:20. Four times the name is used in connection with the word “sea” and refers without doubt to Galilee. The name “harps” may refer to the shape of the sea itself or to the fact that shepherds played harps or lyres in that area. Gennesaret (Γεννησαρέτ, G1166) in Matthew 14:34; Mark 6:53 and Luke 5:1 is a corruption of the original pronunciation.

In Joshua 19:35 Chinnereth appears among the fortified cities of Naphtali. A hill bearing the modern name of Tel ’Oreimeh (“mound of the harp”) stands on the NW side of the Sea of Galilee where it commands the nearby fertile plain. Archeological evidences show it to have been occupied at the time of Joshua.

Chinneroth (1 Kings 15:20) is an area near Naphtali or is part of it.

Bibliography W. F. Albright, “The Jordan Valley in the Bronze Age,” AASOR, VI (1926), 24-26.