In the account of
Terah
Terah or Terach ( he, תֶּרַח ''Teraḥ'') is a biblical figure in the Book of Genesis. He is listed as the son of Nahor and father of the patriarch Abraham. As such, he is a descendant of Shem's son Arpachshad. Terah is mentioned in Gen ...
's family mentioned in the
Book of Genesis
The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning" ...
(), Nahor II ( he, נָחוֹר – ''Nāḥōr'') is listed as the son of Terah, amongst two other brothers,
Abram and
Haran (). His grandfather was
Nahor I, son of
Serug
Serug ( he, שְׂרוּג – ''Śərūḡ'', "branch"; gr, Σερούχ – ''Seroúkh'') was the son of Reu and the father of Nahor, according to Genesis 11:20–23. He is also the great-grandfather of Abraham, thus the ancestor of the Ish ...
. Nahor married the daughter of his brother
Haran,
Milcah, his niece (). They may all have been born and raised in the city of
Ur: the biblical account states that "Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in
Ur of the Chaldeans" ().
In the
King James Version
The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...
, Nahor is also referred to as Nachor ().
When Abram had an encounter with
God
In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
, this brother directed his family to leave their native land and go to the land of
Canaan. Terah, their father, coordinated the gathering of his family to journey west to their destination (). They followed the
Euphrates River, with their herds, to the
Paddan Aram
Paddan Aram or Padan-aram ( he, , ''Padan ʾĂrām'') was a region referring to the northern plain of the former kingdom Aram-Naharaim. Paddan Aram in Aramaic means ''the field of Aram'', a name that distinguishes the flatland from the mountainou ...
region. This was about halfway along the
Fertile Crescent between
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...
and the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...
, in what is now southeastern
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
.
[Drummond, Dorothy. ''Holy Land, Whose Land? Modern Dilemma, Ancient Roots.'' 2004, p.75] In this region, Nahor and his family settled except for his brother Haran, who had died sometime ago back in Ur (). The city where they settled,
Harran
Harran (), historically known as Carrhae ( el, Kάρραι, Kárrhai), is a rural town and district of the Şanlıurfa Province in southeastern Turkey, approximately 40 kilometres (25 miles) southeast of Urfa and 20 kilometers from the border cr ...
, is the place where Nahor's father would die ().
Nahor II continued his own travels and settled in the region of
Aram Naharaim
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 referring to the region along the great ...
, where he founded the town of Nahor (). Here, he and Milcah had eight sons ():
# Uz, the firstborn
# Buz
# Kemuel
#
Kesed
#
Hazo
#
Pildash
#
Jidlaph
#
Bethuel, father of
Rebekah, the wife of
Isaac
Nahor and his concubine,
Reumah
In the account of Terah's family mentioned in the Book of Genesis (), Nahor II ( he, נָחוֹר – ''Nāḥōr'') is listed as the son of Terah, amongst two other brothers, Abram and Haran (). His grandfather was Nahor I, son of Serug. Nahor ...
, also had four sons:
Tebah,
Gaham,
Tahash, and
Maacah ().
Nahor in the Book of Joshua
In his final speech to the Israelite leaders assembled at
Shechem,
Joshua
Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...
recounts the history of God's formation of the Israelite nation, beginning with "Terah the father of Abraham and Nachor,
holived beyond the
Euphrates River and worshiped other gods" ().
In popular culture
Nahor is portrayed by
Kevin McNally
Kevin Robert McNally (born 27 April 1956) is an English actor and writer. He is known for portraying Joshamee Gibbs in the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' film series.
Early life
Born in Bristol, McNally spent his early years in Birmingham, atte ...
in the film
Abraham
Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Je ...
(1993). The character of Nahor's concubine Reumah is portrayed by
Evelina Meghangi in the same film.
See also
*
Harran
Harran (), historically known as Carrhae ( el, Kάρραι, Kárrhai), is a rural town and district of the Şanlıurfa Province in southeastern Turkey, approximately 40 kilometres (25 miles) southeast of Urfa and 20 kilometers from the border cr ...
, the city where the family first settled (spelled differently in Hebrew from the family name of Haran).
References
{{Authority control
Family of Abraham
Noach (parashah)
Ur of the Chaldees