Nazareth to Jerusalem five-day journey

Mary and Joseph took their family to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration "every year," according to Luke 2:41. This would have involved a week of travel for a caravan of travelers from Nazareth. Most families would have made 20 miles a day, stopping at familiar locations in the Jezreel and Jordan River valleys. This video shows the most likely general route, and features footage from the dramatic last 18 miles of the trip along the road the connected Jericho and Jerusalem. While there are water sources in that canyon (know as a wadi), there is no water 40 miles to the north of this path, or 140 miles south of it. In the account of Luke 2:41-52, Mary and Joseph traveled to Jericho without Jesus on the return trip. That forced them to retrace their steps back to Jerusalem before finally returning to Nazareth a few days later.