BIBLE DICTIONARY + WORD STUDY
How to read this: there is rarely one magic “true meaning” hidden behind an English word. A lexicon records a word’s semantic range. The intended meaning is narrowed by grammar, sentence, author, historical usage and context.
HEBREW / ARAMAIC · H2771
cha.ran — Haran
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)
10 tagged verse occurrences · see every occurrence →HEBREW / ARAMAIC · H2039
ha.ran — Haran
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
6 tagged verse occurrences · see every occurrence →Or Chaldeans, the inhabitants of the country of which Babylon was the capital. They were so called till the time of the Captivity (2 Kings 25; Isa. 13:19; 23:13), when, particularly in the Book of Daniel (5:30; 9:1), the name began to be used with special reference to a class of learned men ranked with the magicians and astronomers. These men cultivated the ancient Cushite language of the original inhabitants of the land, for they had a “learning” and a “tongue” (1:4) of their own. The common language of the country at that time had become assimilated to the Semitic dialect, especially through the influence of the Assyrians, and was the language that was used for all civil purposes. The Chaldeans were the learned class, interesting themselves in science and religion, which consisted, like that of the ancient Arabians and Syrians, in the worship of the heavenly bodies. There are representations of this priestly class, of magi and diviners, on the walls of the Assyrian palaces.
Source: Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897). Historical dictionary wording reflects the scholarship and language of its era.
