Halah

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Halah . One of the places to which Israelites were deported by the king of Assyria on the capture of Samaria (  2 Kings 17:6;   2 Kings 18:11 ,   1 Chronicles 5:26 ). It was situated in the region of Gozan (wh. see), but it has not yet been satisfactorily identified.

L. W. King.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

District to which captive Israelites were carried.  2 Kings 17:6;  2 Kings 18:11;  1 Chronicles 5:26 . In an Assyrian geographical list the name of Halahhu has been found, which corresponds with Halah, but its position is not well defined. The texts associate it with Habor q.v.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Ha'lah. Halah is probably a different place from the Calah of  Genesis 10:11. It may be identified with the Chalcitis of Ptolemy.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 2 Kings 17:6 18:11 1 Chronicles 5:26

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

The name appears in Chalcitis (Ptolemy, 5:18), and Gla, a mound on the upper Khabour ( 2 Kings 17:6). A Median district and city.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 2 Kings 17:6 Obadiah 1:20

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

 2 Kings 17:6 . See HABOR.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

hā´la ( חלח , ḥălaḥ  ; Ἁλάε , Haláe , Ἁλλάε , Halláe , Χαάχ , Chaách , for Χαλάχ , Chalách , Χαλά , Chalá  ; Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible , 390-405 ad) Hala ):

1. Many Identifications

Mentioned in  2 Kings 17:6;  2 Kings 18:11;  1 Chronicles 5:26 , as one of the places to which the kings of Assyria sent the exiled Israelites (see Gozan; Habor ). Various identifications have been proposed, all of them except the last more or less improbable for philological reasons: (1) The Assyrian Kalah̬ ( Nimrūd , the Calah of  Genesis 10:11 ); (2) The Assyrian H̬ilakku (Cilicia); (3) Chalkitis in Mesopotamia (Ptol. v.18, 4), adjoining Gauzanitis (Gozan) - a good position otherwise; (4) The Calachene of Strabo, in the North of Assyria. Equally unsuitable, also, is (5) The Chalonitis of Pliny and Strabo, Northeast of Assyria, notwithstanding that this was apparently called Halah by the Syrians. An attractive identification was (6) with the river Balı̄kh (by change of "H" into "B") - compare Septuagint "in Halae and in Habor, rivers of Gozan" - but even this has to be abandoned in favor of (7) The Assyrian H̬alah̬h̬u , which (except the doubling and the case-ending) is the same, letter for letter.

2. The Most Probable of Them

It is mentioned in the W. Asia Inscr , II, plural 53, l. 35, between Arraph̬a (Arrapachitis) and Raṣappu (Reseph). According to the tablet K. 123, where it is called mat H̬alah̬h̬i , "the land of H̬alah̬h̬u ," it apparently included the towns Še - bisê , Še - ı̂rriši , Lu-ammu(ti?), and Še - Akkulani , apparently four grain-producing centers for the Assyrian government. The first quotation implies that Halah was near or in Gauzanitis, and had a chief town of the same name. Of the 8 personal names in K. 123,5 are Assyrian, the remainder being Syrian rather than Israelite.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Hebrew Chalach', חֲלִח ., signif. unknown; Sept. Ε᾿Λαέ and Ἀλαέ , Vulg. Hala; but in  1 Chronicles 5:26; Sept. Ξαξαδ , Vulg. Lahela), a city or district of Media, upon the river Gozan, to which, among other places, the captives of Israel were transplanted by the Assyrian kings ( 2 Kings 17:6;  2 Kings 18:11;  1 Chronicles 5:26). Many, after Bochart (Geog. Sacra, 3:14, p. 220), have conceived this Halah or Chalach to be the same with the CALAH or Kelach of Genesis 10, 11, the Calacine ( Καλακινή ) which Ptolemy places to the north of Assyria (6, 1), the Calachene ( Καλαχηνή ) of Strabo (11, 530), in the plain of the Tigris around Nineveh. But this is probably a different place, the modern Kalah-Shergat. Major Rennell, identifying the Gozan with the Kizzil-Ozan, indicates as lying along its banks a district of some extent, and of great beauty and fertility, called Chalchal, having within it a remarkably strong position of the same name, situated on one of the hills adjoining to the mountains which separate it from the province of Ghilan (Geog. Of Herod. p. 396). The Talmud understands Cholwan, five days journey from Bagdad (Furst, Lex. S.V. ). Ptolemy, however, mentions (5. 18) another province in Mesopotamia of a similar name, namely, Chalcitis ( Χαλκῖτις ), which he places between Anthemusia (compare Strabo, 16:1, § 27) and Gau'zonitis (Gozan); and this appears to be the true Halah of the Bible. It lay along the banks of the Upper Khab Û r, extending from its source at Ras el-Ain to its junimtiorp with the Jerujer, as the name is thought to remain in the modern Cla, a large mound on this river, above its junction with the Jerujer (Layard, Nin. and Bab. p. 312, note). Halah, Habor, and Gozan were situated close together on the left bank of the Euphrates (Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchies, 1, 246).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Ha´lah or rather Chalach, a city or district of Media, upon the river Gozan, to which, among other places, the captives of Israel were transplanted by the Assyrian kings. Many have conceived this Halah or Chalach to be the Calachene which Ptolemy places in the north of Assyria. But if the river Gozan be the Kizzil-Ozan, Halah must needs be sought elsewhere, and near that river. Accordingly Major Rennell indicates as lying along its banks a district of some extent, and of great beauty and fertility, named Chalchal, having within it a remarkably strong position of the same name, situated on one of the hills adjoining to the mountains which separate it from the province of Ghilan.