Hebrew word · H2039

הָרָן

haran

Haran

A personal name: Terah's son, father of Lot, Milcah and Iscah. It is spelled with soft h (ה). The city Abram moves to (11:31; 12:4) is Ḥarran, spelled with a harder guttural (ח). These are two different words.

Appears 7 times in 6 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

A man living at the time of the Patriarchs, first mentioned at Gen.11.26;

son of: Terah (H8646);

brother of: Abraham (H0085), Nahor (H5152H) and Sarah (H8283);

father of: Lot (H3876), Milcah (H4435) and Iscah (H3252)

§ Haran = "mountaineer"

1) youngest son of Terah, brother of Abraham, father of Lot, Milcah, and Iscah; born and died in Ur of the Chaldees

2) a Gershonite Levite in the time of David, one of the family of Shimei

3) a son of Caleb by the concubine Ephah

4) name of the place to which Abraham migrated from Ur of the Chaldees and where the descendants of his brother Nahor established themselves; probably located in Mesopotamia, in Padanaram, the cultivated district at the foot of the hills between the Khabour and the Euphrates below Mount Masius

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Genesis 11:29

Range of meaning

A personal name: Terah's son, father of Lot, Milcah and Iscah. It is spelled with soft h (ה). The city Abram moves to (11:31; 12:4) is Ḥarran, spelled with a harder guttural (ח). These are two different words.

Against the English

Most English Bibles spell both 'Haran'. That makes it look as if Terah named the city after his dead son, or the son after the city. The Hebrew does not connect them. The Septuagint keeps them apart (Arran for the man, Charran for the city).

How it drifted

The Hebrew letters ה and ח both come into English as 'h'. The two names fall together in English spelling.

Used elsewhere in the period

The city Ḥarrānu ('road, caravan junction') is widely attested in cuneiform texts from the Mari period and later as a center of the moon-god Sin.

From the study of Genesis 11:27

Range of meaning

A personal name of uncertain meaning, possibly "mountaineer" (from har, "mountain"). Hebrew spells it with he (ה). It is distinct from the city Ḥārān (חָרָן, H2771), which is spelled with ḥet (ח) and probably comes from Akkadian ḫarrānu, "road, caravan route."

Against the English

Nearly every English version writes both the man and the city as "Haran." Readers then assume that Terah's family named the town, or settled there, after the dead son. Hebrew makes no such link.

How it drifted

Older English transliteration did not distinguish the Hebrew letters ה and ח. Some versions (e.g. NRSV-family and NJPS) write the city as "Harran" or "Haran" inconsistently.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint does keep them apart: the man is Arran (Αρραν), the city Charran (Χαρραν), which is also the spelling in Acts 7:2, 4. The city Ḥarrānu is well attested in Mari and Assyrian texts as a caravan city and a center of moon-god worship.

Where it appears

Genesis · 6

  1. Genesis 11:26 הָרָֽן׃ Haran

    When Terah was 70 years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

  2. Genesis 11:27 הָרָ֑ן וְהָרָ֖ן Haran, and Haran

    This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot.

    Here: The third son. His name is spelled with a soft h (ה). The city of Harran in 11:31 uses a different, harder h (ח). English writes both as "Haran."

  3. Genesis 11:28 הָרָ֔ן Haran

    During his father Terah’s lifetime, Haran died in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans.

    Here: Haran is Terah's third son and the father of Lot, Milcah and Iscah (11:27, 29). In Hebrew the name begins with a soft h (he). The city of Harran in 11:31 begins with a harsh ḥ (ḥet), so the man and the town are different words even though English spells both 'Haran'.

  4. Genesis 11:29 הָרָ֥ן Haran

    And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. Abram’s wife was named Sarai, and Nahor’s wife was named Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, who was the father of both Milcah and Iscah.

    Here: The dead third brother (11:28), father of Lot. So Nahor marries his own niece, keeping Haran's line inside the family after Haran's early death.

  5. Genesis 11:31 הָרָן֙ Haran

    And Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai the wife of Abram, and they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan. But when they arrived in Haran, they settled there.

    Here: Abram's brother, who died in Ur 'in the presence of his father' (11:28). The name begins with a soft h (Hebrew he). It is a different word from the city Ḥaran later in the verse.

1 Chronicles · 1

  1. 1 Chronicles 23:9 וְהָרָ֖ן and Haran

    The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran—three in all. These were the heads of the families of Ladan.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.