| Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia PADDAN-ARAM pad'-an-a'-ram or p.-ar'-am (paddan 'aram; Septuagint Mesopotamia tes Surias; the King James Version Padan-aram): In Genesis 48:7, Paddan stands alone, but as the Septuagint, Sam, and Peshitta read "Aram" also, it must in this verse have dropped out of the Massoretic Text. In the time of Abraham, padanu occurs on the Babylonian contract-tablets as a land measure, to which we may compare the Arabic feddan or "ox-gang." In the Assyrian syllabaries it is the equivalent of iklu, "a field," so that Paddan-aram would mean "the field of Aram," and with this we may compare Hosea 12:12 (Hebrew 12:13) and the use of the Hebrew sadheh in connection with Moab and Edom (Judges 5:4 Ruth 1:6).
Furthermore, [`padanu] and harranu are given as synonyms with the meaning of "road."
Paddan-aram occurs only in the Priestly Code (P), but it corresponds to the "Haran" of the older documents. The versions agree in translating both as Mesopotamia, and identify with the home of the patriarchs and the scene of Jacob's exile the district of Haran to the East of the Upper Euphrates valley. More in harmony with the length of Jacob's flight, as indicated by the time given (Genesis 31:22, 23), is Harran-el-`Awamid, an ancient site 10 miles to the East of Damascus, which satisfies all the demands of history.
See ARAM.
W.M. Christie |  | Multi-Version Concordance Paddan-aram (10 Occurrences) Genesis 25:20 And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian, to be his wife. (See JPS ASV BBE NAS RSV) Genesis 28:2 Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father. And take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother. (See JPS ASV BBE NAS RSV) Genesis 28:5 And Isaac sent away Jacob. And he went to Paddan-aram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother. (See JPS ASV BBE NAS RSV) Genesis 28:6 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram, to take him a wife from thence. And that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. (See JPS ASV BBE NAS RSV) Genesis 28:7 And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Paddan-aram. (See JPS ASV BBE NAS RSV) Genesis 31:18 and he carried away all his cattle, and all his substance which he had gathered, the cattle of his getting, which he had gathered in Paddan-aram, to go to Isaac his father unto the land of Canaan. (See JPS ASV BBE NAS RSV) Genesis 33:18 And Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram; and encamped before the city. (See JPS ASV BBE NAS RSV) Genesis 35:9 And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. (See JPS ASV BBE NAS RSV) Genesis 35:26 and the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid: Gad and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, that were born to him in Paddan-aram. (See JPS ASV BBE NAS RSV) Genesis 46:15 These are the sons of Leah, whom she bare unto Jacob in Paddan-aram, with his daughter Dinah: all the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty and three. (See JPS ASV BBE NAS RSV) |
