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Place · City

Haran

Named in 10 verses across 4 books, first in Genesis 11:31.

Where

Coordinates

36.8600° N, 39.0314° EOpen in OpenStreetMap ↗

Identification

Not assessed

The dataset gives no precision for this point.

Matched to an entry in an ancient-world gazetteer, and the match was checked by the dataset’s editors. Gazetteer entry

Some biblical sites are known for certain; others are identified from old names and descriptions and are still discussed.

People

Born, died or recorded here, or in an event set here, first; then people named in the same verses, which does not mean they were here.

Terahdied here, recorded as here, 1 event2 shared verses
Abrahamrecorded as here, 1 event3 shared verses
Lotrecorded as here, 1 event3 shared verses
Sarahrecorded as here, 1 event2 shared verses
Canaanrecorded as here1 shared verse
Haran (brother of Abraham)recorded as here1 shared verse
Jacob (Israel)2 shared verses
God1 shared verse
Laban1 shared verse

In the Bible

All 10 verses, in Bible order. Text from the Berean Standard Bible; verse numbers follow the KJV.

Genesis

Genesis 11:31
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.
Genesis 11:32
Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.
Genesis 12:4
So Abram departed, as the LORD had directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
Genesis 12:5
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,
Genesis 27:43
So now, my son, obey my voice and flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran.
Genesis 28:10
Meanwhile Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.
Genesis 29:4
“My brothers,” Jacob asked the shepherds, “where are you from?” “We are from Haran,” they answered.

2 Kings

2 Kings 19:12
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?

Isaiah

Isaiah 37:12
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?

Ezekiel

Ezekiel 27:23
Haran, Canneh, and Eden traded with you, and so did the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad.

Events here

Events the dataset sets at Haran. Dates follow its Ussher–Jones reckoning (one of several traditional counts), not established history.

c. 1921 BC
Death of TerahGenesis 11:32
c. 1921 BC
Abraham enters CanaanGenesis 11:31–12:9

Dictionary

From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), as attached to this record by Theographic. Its geography and “modern” descriptions date from the 1890s. Easton wrote in 1897, and some of his views are now debated.

Read Easton’s entry

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.