A mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figuratively)
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הַר (har) is the Hebrew word for mountain or hill. The local Hebrew index currently counts about 547 occurrences and carries extraordinary theological weight — because in the OT, mountains regularly become places where God meets humans, establishes covenants, gives his law, receives worship, and announces his eschatological purposes.
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Full entry for הַר (H2022) · Open the biblical lexicon
הַר (har) is the Hebrew word for mountain or hill. The local Hebrew index currently counts about 547 occurrences and carries extraordinary theological weight — because in the OT, mountains regularly become places where God meets humans, establishes covenants, gives his law, receives worship, and announces his eschatological purposes.
The BSB source-word alignment has 547 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include the mountains (67), Mount (45), mountain (42), the mountain (33), in the hill country (29).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 7:19. Its strongest book concentrations include Isaiah (57), Joshua (52), Deuteronomy (51), Exodus (48).
הַר (har) is the Hebrew word for mountain or hill. The local Hebrew index currently counts about 547 occurrences and carries extraordinary theological weight — because in the OT, mountains regularly become places where God meets humans, establishes covenants, gives his law, receives worship, and announces his eschatological purposes. The har is not merely geography; it is the geography of encounter.
Isaiah 2:2-3 gives har its eschatological culmination: 'It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain (har) of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains (har), and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: Come, let us go up to the mountain (har) of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.' The har YHWH (mountain of the Lord) will be the highest mountain, and all nations will stream to it. This vision connects the Sinai har (where God gave the Torah) with the Zion har (where God dwells) and the eschatological har (where all peoples will come for instruction). The Micah 4:1-4 parallel confirms the vision.
Exodus 19:3-20 is the OT's most sustained mountain-of-God text: Moses goes up (alah) to the har, God speaks to him, the people are consecrated to approach the base of the har, the har is bounded ('do not go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it'), and then the theophany erupts — thunder, lightning, thick cloud, trumpet blast, and fire. The Sinai har is the place where the holy God speaks in terrible proximity to the sinful people, mediated through Moses. Every subsequent mountain in the OT is interpreted in light of Sinai: the har is the place of divine speech, divine law, divine presence.
Psalm 48:1-2 celebrates Mount Zion as the har of God: 'Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God! His holy mountain (har qodshot), beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King.' The Zion har is the OT's permanent covenant-geography of divine presence: the place where God's name dwells, where the temple stands, where worship is offered, and from which God's judgment and salvation go out. The Psalms of Ascent (Pss 120-134) are sung on the way up to the Zion har.
For the preacher, הַר (har) is the word that often frames encounter with God as ascent — leaving the ordinary and moving toward the holy in these key texts, at God's invitation and on God's terms.
The local Hebrew index currently counts about 547 occurrences of har in the OT. The most theologically significant mountains are: Sinai/Horeb (the mountain of the law), Moriah (the mountain of sacrifice), Zion (the mountain of the temple and the Davidic covenant), Carmel (the mountain of divine confirmation), and the eschatological mountain of Isaiah 2 and Micah 4. The har is consistently the geography of theophany — the elevation that marks the approach from the ordinary to the holy.
In the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.
The eschatological har YHWH: the mountain of God's house (har beit YHWH) exalted above all mountains, and all nations streaming to it. The ascent vocabulary used for pilgrims going up to the temple (alah — 'come, let us go up') is extended to all nations — the universal pilgrimage to the mountain of God's instruction. Isaiah 2 gives the har its fullest eschatological meaning: the geography of divine encounter will one day be the center of universal worship and teaching.
Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, “This is what you are to tell the house of Jacob and explain to the sons of Israel:
The Sinai har as the place of divine speech: Moses ascends (alah) and God calls from the mountain. The har is the vertical space between the human and the divine — Moses goes up; God calls down. The Sinai theophany (vv. 16-25) that follows is the most terrifying divine manifestation in the OT: no one approaches the har without being put to death (19:12). The holy har requires mediation — Moses as the one who can go up, the people at the base. The Mosaic covenant is given on the har.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, His holy mountain.
The Zion har as the locus of divine praise: God's greatness is declared in his holy mountain. Mount Zion is 'beautiful in elevation, the joy of all the earth' (v. 2). The Zion har takes up the Sinai theology of divine presence and settles it permanently in the place God has chosen. The pilgrims who 'went around her, counted her towers' (v. 12-13) are learning the geography of the divine presence — the har is the landmark of what is permanent and solid about God's covenant with his people.
So he got up and ate and drank. And strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
Elijah's return to the har of God — Horeb (the Deuteronomic name for Sinai). After the Carmel triumph and the flight from Jezebel, the prophet journeys back to the mountain of the first covenant. What happens there (vv. 9-18) includes the still small voice after the wind, earthquake, and fire — a new theophany at the original har YHWH. The mountain of the law becomes the mountain of the prophet's recommissioning. The har of God is both the place of past covenant and the place of renewed commission.
And Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. So to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
The Moriah har named by Abraham after the substitution: 'YHWH yireh (the Lord will provide).' The har that was the place of the bound son and the substitute ram becomes the place associated with God's provision. The proverbial saying ('on the mountain of the Lord it will be provided') embeds the theology of the har as the place of divine provision into the culture's memory.
The tradition identifies Moriah with the site of Jerusalem and Solomon's temple — the har of provision and the har of the temple are the same har.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Physical elevation that serves as a sacred or significant space; metaphorically denotes exaltation and divine encounter.
Physical elevation that serves as a sacred or significant space; metaphorically denotes exaltation and divine encounter.
a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figuratively) BDB: mountain Usage: hill (country), mount(-ain), × promotion.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 547 lexical occurrence verses.
הַר is built from this root:
The exalted mountain signifies the supreme authority of the Lord’s reign and the centrality of his revealed presence in Zion.Isaiah 2:1-5
Greek words that correspond to or develop the meaning of this Hebrew word in the New Testament.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
הַר (har) maps the geography of the encounter with God as vertical — it often involves going up, leaving the ordinary, and approaching the holy at God's invitation and on God's terms. The Sinai har gives the theology: the holy God speaks from the mountain, and the approach requires preparation, mediation, and awe. The Zion har makes the encounter permanent: God has placed his name in the city on the mountain, and the worshipper makes the ascent to the place where God dwells.
The eschatological har of Isaiah 2 and Micah 4 extends the geography to all nations: the mountain of God's house will be the highest, and all peoples will stream to it for instruction. The preacher who handles har faithfully will take the congregation to the mountain with the right combination of invitation and awe: invited up (the nations stream), but approaching on God's terms (the mountain is holy, the approach is defined).
Hebrews 12 draws these themes together: the new covenant community has come to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the innumerable company of angels — but with the warning that the one who is speaking is the God who is a consuming fire. The har of encounter is the har of holy presence.
Isa.2.2
הַר (har) is a masculine noun. Its plural (harim, mountains) appears frequently in the Psalms for the mountains as a whole (Ps 46:3; 72:3; 121:1 — 'I lift my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come?') The construct form har + genitive gives the key OT mountain names: har Sinai (Mount Sinai), har Tsion (Mount Zion), har YHWH (the mountain of the Lord), har habayit (the mountain of the house, the Temple Mount).
The verb alah (to go up, H5927) is consistently associated with har — pilgrims go up (alah) to the mountain. The Psalms of Ascent (Ps 120-134 — shir hama'alot, songs of ascents) are the liturgy of the pilgrimage up to the Zion har. The NT inherits the har theology through the Greek oros: the Sermon on the Mount (Mat 5:1), the Transfiguration on the high mountain (Mat 17:1-9), and the Olivet discourse (Mat 24:3) all locate key revelatory events on mountains.
The NT mountain theology concentrates in several key texts. The Sermon on the Mount (Mat 5-7) positions Jesus as the new Moses giving the new Torah from the har — the contrast with Sinai is implicit but significant. The Transfiguration (Mat 17:1-9) occurs on a 'high mountain' (oros hypselos) where Moses and Elijah appear — the two great Sinai figures — and the divine voice identifies Jesus ('this is my beloved Son') in the same way as at the baptism.
The Olivet Discourse (Mat 24-25) is given from the Mount of Olives, overlooking the Temple Mount — the har where God's eschatological purposes are announced, facing the har where God's presence dwelt. Hebrews 12:18-24 makes the har contrast explicit: 'You have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire... But you have come to Mount Zion (orous Sion), to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.'
The Sinai har of terror is contrasted with the Zion har of grace — both real, both holy, but the approach now is through the mediator who is greater than Moses. Revelation's new Jerusalem descends to a 'great, high mountain' (oros mega kai hypselos, Rev 21:10) — the Ezekiel 40:2 mountain where the prophet saw the restored temple is the mountain from which John sees the final city.
The har of divine presence has become the mountain of eternal habitation.