Haran
A place in the Bible
A city in northern Mesopotamia. Abraham’s family lived there for a time, and Laban, Rebekah’s brother, lived there.
What happened here
- Abraham: he was seventy-five years old when he left Haran, as the Lord had told him, to go to Canaan.
- Jacob: running away from his brother Esau, he went to Haran, to the house of his uncle Laban.
- The shepherds: when he arrived, Jacob asked some shepherds where they were from. They told him they were from Haran, and that they knew Laban.
Today
It was in northern Mesopotamia, in what is today southeastern Turkey.
Where it appears in the Bible
Genesis 11:31; Genesis 12:4-5; Genesis 27:43; Genesis 28:10; Genesis 29:4-5
What the Bible says
Genesis 11:31
And Thare took Abram, his son, and Lot the son of Aran, his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter in law, the wife of Abram his son, and brought them out of Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Chanaan: and they came as far as Haran, and dwelt there.
Genesis 12:4-5
4So Abram went out as the Lord had commanded him, and Lot went with him: Abram was seventy-five years old when he went forth from Haran. 5And he took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all the substance which they had gathered, and the souls which they had gotten in Haran: and they went out to go into the land of Chanaan. And when they were come into it,
Genesis 27:43
Now therefore, my son, hear my voice: arise and flee to Laban my brother to Haran:
Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner revision), public domain.
Source: Genesis 11:31; Genesis 12:4-5; Acts 7:2-4; Britannica, “Harran”