Aram-Naharaim ( he, אֲרַם נַהֲרַיִם ''ʾĂram Nahărayīm''; syc , ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, ʾAram Nahrayn; "Aram between (the) rivers") is the biblical term for the ancient land of the

Arameans The Arameans ( oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; syc, ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ, Ārāmāyē) were an ancient Semitic-speaking people in the Near East, first recorded in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. The Aramean ...

referring to the region along the great bend of the

Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...

river. Aram-Naharaim is also mentioned as ''Nahrima of the Arameans'' in the

El-Amarna letters The Amarna letters (; sometimes referred to as the Amarna correspondence or Amarna tablets, and cited with the abbreviation EA, for "El Amarna") are an archive, written on clay tablets, primarily consisting of diplomatic correspondence between t ...

. It is mentioned five times in the Hebrew BibleGenesis 24:10; Deuteronomy 23:4; Judges 3:8,10; 1 Chronicles 19:6; Psalm 60:1. or

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

. In Genesis, it is used somewhat interchangeably with the names '' Paddan Aram'' and ''

Haran Haran or Aran ( he, הָרָן ''Hārān'') is a man in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. He died in Ur of the Chaldees, was a son of Terah, and brother of Abraham. Through his son Lot, Haran was the ancestor of the Moabites and Ammonite ...

'' to denote the place where Abraham stayed briefly with his father Terah's family after leaving Ur of the Chaldees, while ''en route'' to Canaan (Gen. 11:31), and the place from which later patriarchs obtained wives, rather than marry daughters of Canaan. Both the Septuagint (early Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) and Flavius Josephus translate the name as ''Mesopotamia''. Ancient writers later used the name "Mesopotamia" for all of the land between the Tigris and Euphrates. However, the usage of the Hebrew name "Aram-Naharaim" does not match this later usage of "Mesopotamia", the Hebrew term referring to a northern region within Mesopotamia. The translation of the name as "Mesopotamia" was not consistent – the Septuagint also uses a more precise translation "Mesopotamia of Syria" as well as "Rivers of Syria". During the Late Antiquity and throughout the Early Medieval period, regional dialect of

Aramaic language The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...

was called ''Nahraya'', an endonymic (native) term, derived from choronym (regional name) '' Bet-Nahrain'', a variant Aramaic name for Mesopotamians regions in general.

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The Land of Aram (Syria)
Aramean states History of Aram (region) Torah places Hebrew Bible regions Historical regions

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