הַר
har
mountain: mount
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# The Hebrew Word הַר (har): Mountain The Hebrew word *har* appears 451 times throughout the Bible, making it a frequently used term for elevated terrain. Its primary meaning—"mountain" or "mount"—reflects a straightforward reference to geographic features. This high frequency of occurrence indicates that mountains held considerable importance in the biblical landscape and narrative framework, whether as physical landmarks, locations for significant events, or symbolic locations of religious importance. The consistency of the definition across all occurrences suggests that *har* functioned as a stable geographic term without significant semantic variation. Rather than shifting in meaning, the word maintained its basic reference to elevated landforms, though the contexts in which mountains appeared in biblical accounts varied widely—from everyday geographic references to memorable locations associated with divine encounters or historical events. The prevalence of this term in the biblical corpus reflects the mountainous terrain of the Levantine region where the Hebrew scriptures originated. Understanding *har* as a common, literal geographic term provides a foundation for recognizing both practical references to actual terrain and instances where mountains may have carried additional narrative or symbolic weight within specific biblical passages.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
451 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
Now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned away from them, and didn’t destroy them;
2 Chronicles 20:22When they began to sing and to praise, Yahweh set ambushers against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were struck.
2 Chronicles 20:23For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. When they had finished the inhabitants of Seir, everyone helped to destroy each other.
2 Chronicles 26:10He built towers in the wilderness, and dug out many cisterns, for he had much livestock; in the lowland also, and in the plain. He had farmers and vineyard keepers in the mountains and in the fruitful fields, for he loved farming.
2 Chronicles 33:15He took away the foreign gods, and the idol out of Yahweh’s house, and all the altars that he had built in the mountain of Yahweh’s house, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.
Nehemiah 8:15and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the mountain, and get olive branches, branches of wild olive, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make temporary shelters, as it is written.”
Nehemiah 9:13“You also came down on Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments,
Job 9:5He removes the mountains, and they don’t know it, when he overturns them in his anger.
Job 24:8They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for lack of a shelter.
Job 28:9He puts his hand on the flinty rock, and he overturns the mountains by the roots.
Job 39:8The range of the mountains is his pasture, He searches after every green thing.
Job 40:20Surely the mountains produce food for him, where all the animals of the field play.
Psalms 2:6“Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion.”
Psalms 3:4I cry to Yahweh with my voice, and he answers me out of his holy hill.
Psalms 11:1In Yahweh, I take refuge. How can you say to my soul, “Flee as a bird to your mountain”?
Psalms 15:1Yahweh, who shall dwell in your sanctuary? Who shall live on your holy hill?
Exodus 24:17The appearance of Yahweh’s glory was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel.
Exodus 24:18Moses entered into the middle of the cloud, and went up on the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Exodus 24:18Moses entered into the middle of the cloud, and went up on the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Psalms 18:7Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the mountains quaked and were shaken, because he was angry.
Psalms 24:3Who may ascend to Yahweh’s hill? Who may stand in his holy place?
Psalms 42:6My God, my soul is in despair within me. Therefore I remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon, from the hill Mizar.
Psalms 43:3Oh, send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill, to your tents.
Psalms 46:2Therefore we won’t be afraid, though the earth changes, though the mountains are shaken into the heart of the seas;
Psalms 46:3though its waters roar and are troubled, though the mountains tremble with their swelling.
Psalms 48:1Great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, in his holy mountain.
Psalms 48:2Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the north sides, the city of the great King.
Psalms 48:11Let Mount Zion be glad! Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments.
Psalms 50:11I know all the birds of the mountains. The wild animals of the field are mine.
Psalms 65:6By your power, you form the mountains, having armed yourself with strength.
Psalms 68:15The mountains of Bashan are majestic mountains. The mountains of Bashan are rugged.
Psalms 68:15The mountains of Bashan are majestic mountains. The mountains of Bashan are rugged.
Psalms 68:15The mountains of Bashan are majestic mountains. The mountains of Bashan are rugged.
Psalms 68:15The mountains of Bashan are majestic mountains. The mountains of Bashan are rugged.
Psalms 72:3The mountains shall bring prosperity to the people. The hills bring the fruit of righteousness.
Psalms 72:16Abundance of grain shall be throughout the land. Its fruit sways like Lebanon. Let it flourish, thriving like the grass of the field.
Psalms 74:2Remember your congregation, which you purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance: Mount Zion, in which you have lived.
Psalms 78:68But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he loved.
Psalms 80:10The mountains were covered with its shadow. Its boughs were like God’s cedars.
Psalms 83:14As the fire that burns the forest, as the flame that sets the mountains on fire,
Psalms 90:2Before the mountains were born, before you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.
Psalms 95:4In his hand are the deep places of the earth. The heights of the mountains are also his.
Psalms 97:5The mountains melt like wax at the presence of Yahweh, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
Psalms 98:8Let the rivers clap their hands. Let the mountains sing for joy together.
Psalms 99:9Exalt Yahweh, our God. Worship at his holy hill, for Yahweh, our God, is holy!
Psalms 104:6You covered it with the deep as with a cloak. The waters stood above the mountains.
Psalms 104:8The mountains rose, the valleys sank down, to the place which you had assigned to them.
Psalms 104:10He sends springs into the valleys. They run among the mountains.
Psalms 104:13He waters the mountains from his rooms. The earth is filled with the fruit of your works.
Psalms 104:18The high mountains are for the wild goats. The rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.