Horonaim
Horonaim is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Transjordan in modern-day Israel. Known today as El Iraq. It appears across 4 verses in Scripture.
Biblical History
Horonaim was a city of Moab situated in the southern Transjordanian plateau, south of the Arnon River, in the region that formed the heartland of ancient Moab. It is mentioned four times in prophetic literature, all in the context of divine judgment against Moab. Isaiah 15:5 includes Horonaim in a lament over Moab's destruction: "At the ascent of Luhith they go up weeping; on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of destruction." Jeremiah similarly references Horonaim in his extensive oracle against Moab (Jeremiah 48:3, 5, 34), portraying desperate refugees fleeing from the city as divine wrath overtakes the nation: "Flee! Save yourselves! Be like a juniper in the wilderness!" The repeated connection of Horonaim with lament and ruin situates it as one of Moab's prominent settlements whose fall would signify the totality of God's judgment on the nation. Moab's pride, its enmity toward Israel, and its idolatry, particularly devotion to Chemosh, drew repeated prophetic condemnation. Horonaim, as a named city in these oracles, represents the concrete geographical reality of divine judgment poured out upon a specific people and their land.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Horonaim has been tentatively identified with El-Iraq, a site in southern Transjordan in the modern Kerak Governorate of Jordan. Some scholars associate it with the ancient site near Wadi el-Kerak or with locations in the southern Moabite plateau near modern Lejjun. The Moabite Mesha Inscription, discovered at Dibon in 1868, mentions Horonaim in an extra-biblical context, confirming the city's significance in the region and providing important evidence for its real historical existence. The inscription refers to Horonaim in connection with Moabite political and military activity, lending credibility to the biblical geographical references. Systematic archaeological survey of the southern Moabite plateau has documented Iron Age II occupation at multiple sites consistent with the cities named in prophetic oracles.
Verse Appearances (4)
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]