Bible Location
Meaning: mountainous country · 10 cross references · Modern-day map available
Haran was the Mesopotamian city where Abram's family paused on the journey from Ur and where later patriarchal family ties remained centered. It is important because it stands at the beginning of Abraham's call and remains a key location in the stories of Isaac and Jacob's wider family network. First appears in Gen 11:31.1
Place meaning
mountainous country
Coordinates
36.86, 39.03
First appears
Gen 11:31
AI summary: Haran is one of the Bible's key patriarchal cities outside the land of Canaan. It is the place of transition between Ur and the promised land for Abram, and later it remains the world of Nahor, Rebekah, Laban, and Jacob's long years away from home. Because of that, Haran belongs to the family history out of which Israel emerged. It also appears later in the memory of imperial conquest, showing that its importance extended beyond the patriarchal age. The cross references present Haran as a city of origin, kinship, and journey.1
Place meaning
mountainous country
Latitude
36.86
Longitude
39.03
Bible references
10
Heb. haran, i.e., “parched;” or probably from the Accadian charana, meaning “a road.” A celebrated city of Western Asia, now Harran, where Abram remained, after he left Ur of the Chaldees, till his father Terah died (Gen. 11:31, 32), when he continued his journey into the land of Canaan. It is called “Charran” in the LXX. and in Acts 7:2. It is called the “city of Nahor” (Gen. 24:10), and Jacob resided here with Laban (30:43). It stood on the river Belik, an affluent of the Euphrates, about 70 miles above where it joins that river in Upper Mesopotamia or Padan-aram, and about 600 miles northwest of Ur in a direct line. It was on the caravan route between the east and west. It is afterwards mentioned among the towns taken by the king of Assyria (2 Kings 19:12; Isa. 37:12). It was known to the Greeks and Romans under the name Carrhae. 3
Source note: this 1893 dictionary language reflects its period and may be culturally insensitive or outdated. It is presented as historical source material, not as ai-BIBLE’s language, interpretation, or endorsement.
| Book | Cross-References |
|---|---|
| Gen | |
| 2Kgs | |
| Isa | |
| Ezek |
Figure1: A table of cross references between the selected passage and other passages (Data from Robert Rouse, “Theographic Bible Information,” Theographic-Bible-Metadata, 2020, https://github.com/robertrouse/theographic-bible-metadata.)
AI-assisted summary prepared for ai-BIBLE and stored as page content, based on dictionary material, place metadata, and linked Bible cross references.
Alistair de Blacquiere-Clarkson, “ai-BIBLE Bible Names JSON Factsheet Aggregating Material from Smith’s Bible Dictionary & Hitcocks’s New and Complete Analysis of the Bible.” ai-BIBLE electronic edition, version 1.0.
M.G.Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary, ai-BIBLE electronic edition, version 1.0.
Robert Rouse, “Theographic Bible Information,” Theographic-Bible-Metadata, 2020, https://github.com/robertrouse/theographic-bible-metadata.