Luz ( Lūz) is the name of two places in the Bible.
Biblical texts In Genesis Luz is the ancient name of a royal Canaanite city, connected with Bethel in Genesis 28:19 and 35:6. According to Genesis 28:19, Luz was renamed by Jacob: "Then he named that place Bethel; but previously the name of the city had been Luz.": New American Standard Bible Bethel means "the house of God": the place was where Jacob dreamed of his "ladder" ascending to heaven, where "the angels of God were ascending and descending on it".: English Standard Version
In Joshua In the Book of Joshua, the border of the land allocated to the Tribe of Benjamin is said to run "up to the shoulder north of Jericho, then up through the hill country westward, and it ends at the wilderness of Beth-aven. From there the boundary passes along southward in the direction of Luz, to the shoulder of Luz (that is, Bethel), then the boundary goes down to Ataroth-addar, on the mountain that lies south of Lower Beth-horon".: English Standard Version
In the Book of Judges A second city called Luz, founded by a man who came from the original Luz, is mentioned in Judges 1:23-26:
Identity According to Rashi, it is debated whether Luz and Bethel represent the same town - the former being its Canaanite name, and the latter its Hebrew name - or whether they were distinct places in close proximity to each other. Wesley I. Toews, in the Anchor Bible Dictionary, suggests that "the note that identifies Bethel with Luz in [Joshua] 18:13 might be judged an interpolation, especially if one understood Beth-aven of 18:12 to be a distortion of Bethel",Wesley I. Toews, The Anchor Bible Dictionary, ad v. "Luz" (extract), quoted in 48. Luza, also Bethel - (Beitin), Discussion: Mount Ephraim and Benjamin, archived on 3 October 2013, accessed on 6 August 2026 and so they may be distinct but related sites.
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