Bible Dictionary
Halah
A district in Assyria or Media to which the kings of Assyria deported Israelites after the fall of the northern kingdom. Its precise location is uncertain, though it was probably near the region of Gozan and the upper Khabur.
Definition
Halah was a district to which the kings of Assyria deported Israelites after the fall of the northern kingdom. Its exact location has been disputed.
Biblical Usage
Halah is named with Gozan and Habor among the destinations of Israelites exiled by Assyria.
Historical Background
The supplied material places the most probable Halah near or in Gauzanitis and identifies it with the Assyrian Halahhu, a region containing several grain-producing centers. Other proposed identifications include Chalcitis and Calah.
Scripture References
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
A district of Media to which captive Israelites were transported by the Assyrian kings (2 Kings 17:6; 18:11; 1 Chr. 5:26). It lay along the banks of the upper Khabur, from its source to its junction with the Jerujer. Probably the district called by Ptolemy Chalcitis.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
is probably a different place from the Calah of (Genesis 10:11) It may be identified with the Chalcitis of Ptolemy.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>ha'-la (chalach; Halae, Hallae, Chaach, for Chalach, Chala; Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) Hala):</p><p>1. Many Identifications:</p><p>Mentioned in 2Ki 17:6; 18:11; 1Ch 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:</p><p>(1) the Assyrian Kalach (Nimrud, the Calah of Ge 10:11);</p><p>(2) the Assyrian Hilakku (Cilicia);</p><p>(3) Chalkitis in Mesopotamia (Ptol. v.18, 4), adjoining Gauzanitis (Gozan)--a good position otherwise;</p><p>(4) the Calachene of Strabo, in the North of Assyria. Equally unsuitable, also, is</p><p>(5) the Chalonitis of Pliny and Strabo, Northeast of Assyria, notwithstanding that this was apparently called Halah by the Syrians. An attractive identification was</p><p>(6) with the river Balikh (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</p><p>(7) the Assyrian Halahhu, which (except the doubling and the case-ending) is the same, letter for letter.</p><p>2. The Most Probable of Them:</p><p>It is mentioned in the W. Asia Inscr, II, plural 53, l. 35, between Arrapha (Arrapachitis) and Racappu (Reseph). According to the tablet K. 123, where it is called mat Halahhi, "the land of Halahhu," it apparently included the towns Se-bise, Se-irrisi, Lu-ammu(ti?), and Se-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.</p><p>T. G. Pinches</p>