har · mountain, hill country

What it means

har (הַר) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “mountain, hill country”.

Mountain, hill; hill country.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. A great rise of land, like Sinai or Zion.
2. A whole region of high ground, like that of Ephraim or Judah.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Mountain; also a region of mountains. BDB defines it as a mountain or range of hills, sometimes used figuratively.

• A particular mountain: Sinai, the mountains of Moriah Exodus 19:20Genesis 22:2
• The mountain region: “the hill country of the Amorite” Deuteronomy 1:7
• “The mountain of the house of YHWH” Isaiah 2:2
• The mountains in poetry Psalms 121:1

Historical and cultural background

2 Chronicles 3:1 places the house of YHWH that Solomon built “on Mount Moriah”, the name of the land to which Abraham was sent (Genesis 22:2).

How we translate it

“Mountain” 175 times, “mountains” 164, “Mount” 114 (before a name: “Mount Sinai”), “hill country” 83. When the word names a mountainous area and not a peak, it is translated “hill country” (“the hill country of the Amorite”, Deuteronomy 1:7).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• mountain ×175
• mountains ×164
• Mount ×114
• hill country ×83
• hill ×9
• hills ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×21
• Exodus×48
• Leviticus×4
• Numbers×26
• Deuteronomy×51
• Joshua×52
• Judges×35
• 1 Samuel×14
• 2 Samuel×6
• 1 Kings×15
• 2 Kings×11
• 1 Chronicles×6
• 2 Chronicles×15
• Nehemiah×2
• Job×6
• Psalms×47
• Proverbs×2
• Song of Songs×5
• Isaiah×58
• Jeremiah×20
• Lamentations×2
• Ezekiel×47
• Daniel×3
• Hosea×2
• Joel×6
• Amos×5
• Obadiah×7
• Jonah×1
• Micah×10
• Nahum×3
• Habakkuk×2
• Zephaniah×1
• Haggai×2
• Zechariah×11
• Malachi×1

• Genesis 7:19

  And the waters prevailed very, very much on the earth, and all the high mountains that are under all the heavens were covered.

• Genesis 7:20

  Fifteen cubits upward the waters prevailed, and the mountains were covered.

• Genesis 8:4

  And in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

• Genesis 8:5

  And the waters kept on decreasing until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared.

• Genesis 10:30

  And their dwelling place was from Mesha in the direction of Sephar, the hill country of the east.

• Genesis 12:8

  From there he moved on to the mountain east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to YHWH and called on the name of YHWH.

• Genesis 14:6

  and the Horites in their mountains of Seir, as far as El-paran, which is by the wilderness.

• Genesis 14:10

  Now the Valley of Siddim was pit after pit of bitumen; and as they fled, the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fell there, and those who were left fled to the mountains.

• Genesis 19:17

  When they had brought them outside, he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stop anywhere in the plain; escape to the mountain, lest you be swept away.”

• Genesis 19:19

  Look, your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have made great your loyal love that you have shown me by keeping me alive; but I cannot escape to the mountain, lest the evil overtake me and I die.

• Genesis 19:30

  Lot went up from Zoar and lived on the mountain, and his two daughters with him, for he was afraid to live in Zoar; and he lived in a cave, he and his two daughters.

• Genesis 22:2

  He said, “Take, please, your son, your only one, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him up there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will tell you.”

• Genesis 22:14

  Abraham called the name of that place YHWH Yireh, as it is said to this day, “On the mountain of YHWH it will be seen.”

• Genesis 31:21

  He fled, he and all that he had; he rose, crossed the River, and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

• Genesis 31:23

  He took his brothers with him and pursued him a journey of seven days, and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead.

• Genesis 31:25

  Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent on the mountain, and Laban encamped with his brothers in the hill country of Gilead.

• Genesis 31:54

  Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and called his brothers to eat bread; they ate bread and spent the night on the mountain.

• Genesis 36:8

  So Esau dwelt in the hill country of Seir; Esau is Edom.

• Genesis 36:9

  These are the generations of Esau, the father of Edom, in the hill country of Seir.

• Exodus 3:1

  Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock beyond the wilderness and came to the mountain of Elohim, to Horeb.

• Exodus 3:12

  He said, “But I will be with you, and this will be the sign for you that I have sent you: when you have brought out the people from Egypt, you will serve Elohim on this mountain.”

• Exodus 4:27

  YHWH said to Aaron, “Go to meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met him at the mountain of Elohim and kissed him.

• Exodus 15:17

  You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance, the place for you to dwell in that you have made, YHWH, the sanctuary, Adonai, that your hands have established.

• Exodus 18:5

  Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was camped, at the mountain of Elohim.

• Exodus 19:2

  They had set out from Rephidim, and came to the wilderness of Sinai, and they camped in the wilderness; Israel camped there in front of the mountain.

• Exodus 19:3

  And Moses went up to Elohim, and YHWH called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the sons of Israel:

• Exodus 19:11

  and be ready for the third day; for on the third day YHWH will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai.

• Exodus 19:12

  You shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up on the mountain or touch its edge. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.

• Exodus 19:13

  No hand shall touch him, for he shall surely be stoned or surely shot with arrows; whether animal or man, he shall not live.’ When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they shall go up on the mountain.”

• Exodus 19:14

  Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people, and they washed their garments.

• Exodus 19:16

  On the third day, when morning came, there were thunders and lightnings and a heavy cloud on the mountain, and the sound of a horn, very loud; and all the people who were in the camp trembled.

• Exodus 19:17

  Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet Elohim, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain.

• Exodus 19:18

  Mount Sinai was smoking, all of it, because YHWH had come down upon it in fire; and its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently.

• Exodus 19:20

  YHWH came down upon Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain; and YHWH called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

• Exodus 19:23

  Moses said to YHWH, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you warned us, saying, ‘Set limits around the mountain and consecrate it.’ ”

• Exodus 20:18

  All the people were seeing the thunders and the flames and the sound of the horn and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood far off.

• Exodus 24:4

  Moses wrote all the words of YHWH. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve standing stones for the twelve tribes of Israel.

• Exodus 24:12

  YHWH said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and be there, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the instruction and the commandment that I have written to teach them.”

• Exodus 24:13

  Moses rose, with Joshua his attendant, and Moses went up to the mountain of Elohim.

• Exodus 24:15

  Moses went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.

And 507 more times.