Kir Moab (Kir Hareseth)
קִיר מוֹאָב
Where was biblical Kir Hareseth? At Al-Karak (Kerak), in Jordan, about 80 km southeast of Jerusalem. I mark it probable.
Israel, Judah and Edom marched around the Dead Sea to crush Mesha's revolt and drove him into Kir-hareseth. With the slingers closing in, Mesha took his firstborn son and burned him as an offering on the city wall. The shaken armies broke off the siege and went home.
By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker
- Site today
- Al-Karak (Kerak), in Jordan
- How sure
- Probable The best case we have, with real alternatives.
- Other names
- Kir of Moab, Kir-moab, Kir-haraseth, Kir-heres, Charachmoba, Karak
- Location
- 31.1853° N, 35.7048° E (Google Maps)
How we know where it was
The Bible gives this city several names: Kir of Moab, Kir-hareseth, Kir-heres. The name trail starts with the Targum. Translating Isaiah into Aramaic, it renders Kir of Moab as Kerakha de-Moav, the fortress-city of Moab. That Aramaic name became Greek Charachmoba in Roman and Byzantine times, and Arabic al-Karak today.
The ground fits too. Kerak sits on an isolated hilltop ringed by deep ravines. That is the refuge the Book of Kings describes. An army could surround it and its slingers could strike at the walls, but taking it was another matter.
The limits are real. The Crusaders built a large castle on the hill, and a modern town spreads around it. Between them they cover the site, so excavators have found very little from Moab's time, and no inscription confirms the name. The case rests on the name and the shape of the hill. That is strong, but it is not proven.
Some scholars question the identification. Isaiah and Jeremiah mourn Kir-hareseth together with vineyard districts and northern towns like Heshbon, and Isaiah has Moab mourn for its raisin cakes. So a minority look for it in northern Moab. Kerak remains the standard identification, and the map follows it.
Visiting today
Kerak's large Crusader and Mamluk castle is open to visitors. No remains from Moab's time are on display.
Read it in the Bible
Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.
See Kir Moab on the interactive map →
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