Hebrew word · H2771

חָרָן

charan

Haran

A city in upper Mesopotamia, on the Balikh river, a tributary of the Euphrates. The name matches Akkadian ḫarrānu, 'road, journey, caravan'. The city was a crossroads on the route linking Mesopotamia with Syria and Canaan.

Appears 12 times in 11 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

Haran = "mountaineer"

the city to which Abraham migrated when he left Ur of the Chaldees and where he stayed until his father died before leaving for the promised land; located in Mesopotamia in Padan-aram at the foot of Mount Masius between the Khabour and the Euphrates

Also named: Charran (Χαρράν "Haran" G5488)

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 11:31

Range of meaning

A city in upper Mesopotamia, on the Balikh river, a tributary of the Euphrates. The name matches Akkadian ḫarrānu, 'road, journey, caravan'. The city was a crossroads on the route linking Mesopotamia with Syria and Canaan.

Against the English

Most English versions spell both the city (ḥārān, with ḥet) and Abram's brother (hārān, with he) as 'Haran', so readers easily assume the family named the city after the dead son, or the reverse. NIV writes 'Harran' for the city and YLT 'Charan', which keeps them apart.

How it drifted

The English alphabet cannot show the difference between the two Hebrew letters, ḥ and h.

Used elsewhere in the period

Harran appears in the Mari letters (18th century BC) and in Assyrian records. It was a major shrine of the moon-god Sin, whose temple Nabonidus, the last Babylonian king, rebuilt in the 6th century BC. In Genesis, Abraham's kin stay in the region: Rebekah's family (24:10, 'the city of Nahor'), and Laban, to whom Jacob flees (27:43; 28:10). Several family names (Serug, Nahor, Terah) resemble place-names in the Harran region found in Mari and Assyrian texts.

Where it appears

Genesis · 7

  1. Genesis 11:31 חָרָ֖ן 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: Ḥarrān, a trading city in upper Mesopotamia (now south-east Turkey) on the great route from the Euphrates toward Syria and Canaan. Like Ur, it was a centre of moon-god worship. The name begins with a hard ḥ (Hebrew ḥet), so it is not the brother's name.

  2. Genesis 11:32 בְּחָרָֽן׃ ס in Haran

    Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.

  3. Genesis 12:4 מֵחָרָֽן׃ from Haran

    So Abram departed, as the LORD had directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.

  4. Genesis 12:5 בְחָרָ֑ן in Haran

    And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions and people they had acquired in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,

  5. Genesis 27:43 חָרָֽנָה׃ Haran towards

    So now, my son, obey my voice and flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran.

  6. Genesis 28:10 חָרָֽנָה׃ Haran towards

    Meanwhile Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.

  7. Genesis 29:4 מֵחָרָ֖ן [are] from Haran

    “My brothers,” Jacob asked the shepherds, “where are you from?” “We are from Haran,” they answered.

2 Kings · 1

  1. 2 Kings 19:12 חָרָ֑ן Haran

    Did the gods of the nations destroyed by my fathers rescue those nations—the gods of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and of the people of Eden in Telassar?

    Here: Harran on the Balikh River, a famous centre of the moon-god Sin. It is the same Haran where Abraham's family stopped on the way to Canaan (Gen 11:31; 12:4), a detail an Israelite hearer would have noticed.

1 Chronicles · 2

  1. 1 Chronicles 2:46 חָרָ֥ן וְחָרָ֖ן Haran, and Haran

    Caleb’s concubine Ephah was the mother of Haran, Moza, and Gazez. Haran was the father of Gazez.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 37:12 חָרָ֑ן Haran

    Did the gods of the nations destroyed by my fathers rescue those nations—the gods of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and of the people of Eden in Telassar?

    Here: Harran, on the Balikh River, an important center of the moon-god Sin. Any Israelite also knew it as the town where Abraham's family settled (Genesis 11–12).

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 27:23 חָרָ֤ן Haran

    Haran, Canneh, and Eden traded with you, and so did the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad.

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