Horonaim, a Moabite city featured in prophecies against Moab.
Horonaim was a city in Moab that is mentioned in the context of prophetic judgments against Moab (Isaiah 15:5; Jeremiah 48:3, 5, 34). The name Horonaim means "two caves" or "double cave." In Isaiah's oracle, the people of Moab are described as fleeing to Zoar and Horonaim, crying out in distress. Jeremiah's prophecy portrays the impending destruction of Moab, with the sound of crying from Horonaim and the anguish of its inhabitants. These prophecies indicate that Horonaim was a significant city in Moab, but its exact location is unknown.
Approximate location: 31.288, 35.515 · view on a map · on the Bible atlas
(two caverns), a town of Moab, possibly a sanctuary, named with Zoar and Luhith. (Isaiah 15:5; Jeremiah 48:3,5,34)
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
5 verses in 3 books · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H2773
Meanwhile, Absalom had fled. When the young man standing watch looked up, he saw many people coming down the road west of him, along the side of the hill. And the watchman went and reported to the king, “I see men coming from the direction of Horonaim, along the side of the hill.”
My heart cries out over Moab; her fugitives flee as far as Zoar, as far as Eglath-shelishiyah. With weeping they ascend the slope of Luhith; they lament their destruction on the road to Horonaim.
A voice cries out from Horonaim: ‘Devastation and great destruction!’
For on the ascent to Luhith they weep bitterly as they go, and on the descent to Horonaim cries of distress resound over the destruction:
There is a cry from Heshbon to Elealeh; they raise their voices to Jahaz, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim have dried up.
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.