Hebrew word · H763

אֲרַם נַהֲרַיִם

'aram

Mesopotamia

'Aram of the Two Rivers': upper Mesopotamia and northern Syria, around the Euphrates and its tributaries (the Balikh and Habur). Egyptian texts call the region Naharina, and in the Late Bronze Age it was the territory of the Mitanni kingdom.

Appears 10 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

§ Aram-naharaim = "Aram of the two rivers"

Mesopotamia

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 Deuteronomy 23:4

Range of meaning

'Aram of the Two Rivers': upper Mesopotamia and northern Syria, around the Euphrates and its tributaries (the Balikh and Habur). Egyptian texts call the region Naharina, and in the Late Bronze Age it was the territory of the Mitanni kingdom.

Against the English

KJV and WEB say 'Mesopotamia', following the Greek Septuagint. BSB, YLT and most modern versions transliterate 'Aram-naharaim'.

How it drifted

Greek Mesopotamia ('between the rivers') was a reasonable equivalent in antiquity. A modern reader hears 'Mesopotamia' and thinks of Iraq, Babylon and the land between the Tigris and Euphrates in the south.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 24:10 (Abraham's servant goes to Aram-naharaim, to the city of Nahor); Judges 3:8 (Cushan-rishathaim, king of Aram-naharaim); Psalm 60 heading. Pethor is plausibly Pitru on the Sajur river near Carchemish, named in the annals of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III.

Where it appears

Genesis · 2

  1. Genesis 24:10 אֲרַ֥ם נַֽהֲרַ֖יִם Aram, Naharaim

    Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed with all manner of good things from his master in hand. And he set out for Nahor’s hometown in Aram-naharaim.

Deuteronomy · 2

  1. Deuteronomy 23:4 אֲרַ֥ם נַהֲרַ֖יִם Aram, Naharaim

    For they did not meet you with food and water on your way out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to curse you.

    Here: First half of the place name: Aram, the Aramean lands of Syria and the upper Euphrates.

Judges · 2

  1. Judges 3:8 אֲרַ֣ם נַהֲרָ֑יִם Aram, Naharaim

    Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim, and the Israelites served him eight years.

1 Chronicles · 2

  1. 1 Chronicles 19:6 אֲרַ֨ם נַהֲרַ֜יִם Aram, Naharaim

    When the Ammonites realized that they had become a stench to David, Hanun and the Ammonites sent a thousand talents of silver to hire for themselves chariots and horsemen from Aram-naharaim, Aram-maacah, and Zobah.

Psalms · 2

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