Haran
Where is Haran? The Harran district of Şanlıurfa, Türkiye: where Abraham lived before leaving for Canaan and where his father Terah died.
- Today
- Harran, Şanlıurfa
- Country
- Türkiye
- Status
- Archaeological site: mound, castle and beehive houses
- Identification
- Certain
Haran (spelled Harran in Turkish today) is a key stop in the patriarchal stories of Genesis. Terah took his son Abram (Abraham), his grandson Lot and his daughter-in-law Sarai out of Ur of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran, where Terah died (Genesis 11:31–32). At God's call Abram set out from here for Canaan at the age of seventy-five (Genesis 12:1–5). Years later Jacob fled from his brother Esau to his uncle Laban in Haran (Genesis 27:43; 28:10), and Stephen recalls Abraham's time in Haran (Acts 7:2–4). Today Harran is a district of Şanlıurfa Province.
Read the chapters
- Genesis 11
- Genesis 12
The call of Abraham — a turning-point chapter in which a man is asked to leave everything familiar for an unknown land and sets out on the strength of a great promise.
- Genesis 27
- Genesis 28
- Genesis 29
- Acts 7
Related topics
Related people
- Paul
- Peter
- Abraham
- Joseph
- Noah
- Adam
- Eve
- Isaac
- Sarah
- Jacob
- Barnabas
- Stephen
- Lydia
- Matthew
- Timothy
- Methuselah
- Seth
- Abel
- Cain
- Ishmael
- Hagar
- Lot
- Rachel
- John the Apostle
- Philip the Apostle
- Judas Iscariot
- Mark
Related verse collections
- Bible Verses About Creation
- Bible Verses About Salvation
- Bible Verses About Repentance
- Bible Verses About Family
- Bible Verses About Marriage
- Bible Verses About Generosity
- Bible Verses About Witness
- Bible Verses About Trials and Testing
- Bible Verses About God's Promises
- Bible Verses About Work and Labor
Reading plans
- The Bible for Beginners — 10 Days
- Advent — 24 Days to Christmas
- The Early Church Through Acts — 28 Days
- The Bible in a Year — 365 Days from Cover to Cover
- 30 Days with the Gospel — An Introduction to the New Testament
Books
Places in the Bible
Where is Haran today?
Haran is today in Türkiye, in the Harran district of Şanlıurfa Province, on the Harran Plain southeast of Şanlıurfa and close to the Syrian border. Abraham's family settled here after leaving Ur, and his father Terah died here (Genesis 11:31–32). Visitors see the ancient mound, the castle, the ruins of the Great Mosque and the region's distinctive beehive-domed mud-brick houses.
Was Abraham born in Haran?
According to the Bible, no: Abraham's family left Ur of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran (Genesis 11:31), so Haran is where he lived before moving on to Canaan. A popular tradition in Türkiye links Abraham's birth with the Mevlid-i Halil Cave in Şanlıurfa.
Is the city of Haran the same as Abraham's brother Haran?
No. The KK translation spells the city Harran and the man Haran: the Haran of Genesis 11:27–28 is Abraham's brother, Lot's father, who died in Ur. In Hebrew the two names are spelled differently.