Promised Land

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In the Abrahamic religions, the "Promised Land" (Hebrew: הָאָרֶץ הַמֻּבְטַחַת Ha'aretz ha-Muvtaḥat) refers to a swath of territory in the Levant that was bestowed upon Abraham and his descendants by God. In the context of the Bible, these descendants are originally understood to have been the Israelites, whose forefather was Jacob, who was a son of Abraham's son Isaac. The concept of the Promised Land largely overlaps with the Land of Israel (Zion) or the Holy Land in a biblical/religious sense and with Canaan or Palestine in a secular/geographic sense. Although the Book of Numbers provides some definition for the Promised Land's boundaries, they are not delineated with precision, but it is universally accepted that the core areas lie in and around Jerusalem. According to the biblical account, the Promised Land was not inherited until the Israelite conquest of Canaan, which took place shortly after the Exodus.