Hara

Hara is a place in Assyria, named once in scripture as one of the destinations to which the Transjordan tribes were deported. The verse compresses an entire chapter of imperial history into a list of place names.

A Site of Israelite Captivity in Assyria

The Chronicler ascribes the deportation to divine action working through Assyrian kings, and then traces the route of the exiles: "And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river of Gozan, to this day" (1 Ch 5:26). Hara stands in the middle of that destination list, alongside Halah, Habor, and Gozan. The phrase "to this day" fixes the deportation as still in force at the time the Chronicler is writing — the captives have not returned, and the place names mark where the eastern tribes were resettled.