Halah (; ) is a city that is mentioned in the
Bible
The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
in
2 Kings 17:6 and in
1 Chronicles 5:26. Modern historians are unsure of its location.
When
Tiglath Pileser III and later
Sargon II invaded the
Kingdom of Israel, the Israelites were taken captive from
Gilead and
Samaria
Samaria (), the Hellenized form of the Hebrew name Shomron (), is used as a historical and Hebrew Bible, biblical name for the central region of the Land of Israel. It is bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The region is ...
respectively and resettled in Halah and
Gozan on the
Khabur River in the
Aram-Naharaim region, as well as in the towns of the
Medes
The Medes were an Iron Age Iranian peoples, Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media (region), Media between western Iran, western and northern Iran. Around the 11th century BC, they occupied the m ...
.
The name should not be confused with the Assyrian city of
Calah nor with Cilicia (Khilikku or Khilakku, in
Assyrian) in Asia Minor, but is considered to be identical with the location near Gozan referred to as ''Chalcitis'' by Ptolemy.
References
Hebrew Bible cities
Former populated places in West Asia
Ancient Assyrian cities
Gilead
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