what is the difference between judah and judea?

Answer 1

Judah = the traditional transcription of the Hebrew name of the 4th son of patriarch Jacob

This name was also used to refer to
- the descendants of Judah
- the area where they lived (around Jerusalem)
- the kingdom after Solomon's reign, consisting of Judah and the smaller tribe of Benjamin

Judea (Latin: Iudaea) = the Roman province in Palestina where the Jews (descendants of Judah) lived after the Babylonian deportation

Answer 2

After the death of King Solomon, the Kingdom of Israel split into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah. After they conquered the entire area, the Romans called the resulting province Judea..

Answer 3

I am no history expert, but I thought that "Judah" more commonly referred to the son of Jacob in the BIble. I thought it also referred to an ancient civilization in Palestine.

"Judea" was the kingdom that came after "Judah", and occupied a similar region of Palestine.

I hope I'm close!

Answer 4

Hi
Stumbled on this thread today.
To add more weight to top answer.
Major apostasy caused YHWH to carry Southern Kingdom -aka Judah- people [bar a few] into exile by and to Babylon. Babylon also captured northern parts of Edom---immediately south of Judah--- not long afterwards and put this and Judah under one administration province known as the PROVINCE OF JUDEA. This was one of many Babylonian provinces and would have been a cosmopolitan area. Edomites would have been free to move anywhere in the province and they did-see below.
YHWH raised a man up known as Ezra after seventy years of Babylonian exile to bring back SK Judahites from Babylon to rebuild temple in Jerusalem.
A relatively small number of Spiritual Judahites [referred to as Jews] came back accordingly. They still lovingly referred to that part of the province as Judah [Ezra 5: 1] but to others this place [Judah] didn't exist anymore it was all the province of Judea [Ezra 5: 8].
When the Romans came they conquered the province of Judea and [in terms of what was the rest of Israel]the land north of it which had become known as Samaria and Galilee. In Christ's ministry the Herod[s] were Edomite Judeans-which I hope sums up the terminology.