page_title: Aram, son of Shem
section_title: Masoretic Text
hierarchical_section_title: Aram, son of Shem / Masoretic Text
caption_attribution_description: This is a map of the Tigris - Euphrates Watershed. I, Karl Musser, created it based on USGS data.
context_page_description: Aram is a son of Shem, according to the Table of Nations in Genesis 10 of the Hebrew Bible, and the father of Uz, Hul, Gether and Mash or Meshech. The Book of Chronicles lists Aram, Uz, Hul, Gether, and Meshech as descendants of Shem, although without stating explicitly that Aram is the father of the other four.
  Aram is usually regarded as being the ancestor of the Aramean people of Northern Mesopotamia and Syria.
context_section_description: The Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible uses the Hebrew word ארמי ărammì for Aramean (or Syrian, some translations). Bethuel the Aramean from Padan-aram is identified as the father-in-law of Isaac. Laban the son of Bethuel is also referred to as an Aramean who lived in Haran in Padan-aram (map, bottom).  Deuteronomy 26:5 might refer to the fact that both Jacob and his grandfather Abraham had lived for a time in Syria, or to Jacob being the son of a Syrian mother: "Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: 'My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous.' " (New International Version) The Hebrew word רמי rammîy is found at 2 Chronicles 22:5, also translated Aramaean or Syrian.
  The land of Aram-Naharaim ("Aram of the Two Rivers") included Padan-Aram and the city of Haran (or Harran), Haran being mentioned ten times in the Bible. This region is traditionally thought to be populated by descendants of Aram, as is the nearby land of Aram that included Aram-Damascus and Aram Rehob. David wrote of his striving with Aram-Naharaim and Aram-Zobah (Psalm 60, title). Aram-Naharaim is mentioned five times in Young's Literal Translation.
caption: The Euphrates and Tigris Rivers flow (top left to bottom right) from Ararat (Turkey) through Aram (Syria), to Assyria (Iraq), and into the Persian Gulf.
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