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RighteousOld Testament

Righteous Forefather Terah

Old Testament era. According to the Masoretic text of Genesis, Terah died at the age of 205.

Also known as Tharah · Terah father of Abraham

The father of Abraham, who set out from Ur toward Canaan.

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Commemorated as

The Righteous Forefather Terah

Life

Terah is named in the Book of Genesis as the father of Abraham and a figure in the line of the patriarchs of Mesopotamia. He is commemorated in the Orthodox Church among the Holy Forefathers, the Old Testament ancestors of Christ remembered on the Sunday before the Nativity.

Scripture relates that Terah lived in Ur of the Chaldees and set out from there with his family toward the land of Canaan, settling instead in the city of Haran, where he died. Through his son Abraham, Terah stands within the ancestral line that leads to Christ.

Timeline3 momentsReadHide
  1. OriginsLife in Ur of the ChaldeesTerah, son of Nahor, lives in Ur of the Chaldees with his family, including his sons Abraham, Nahor, and Haran.
  2. MigrationJourney toward CanaanTerah sets out from Ur with his household toward the land of Canaan but settles instead in the city of Haran.
  3. DeathDeath in HaranTerah dies in Haran; the Masoretic text of Genesis gives his age at death as 205.

Contributions & Legacy

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Family and Lineage

According to Genesis, Terah was the son of Nahor and the father of three sons: Abraham (Abram), Nahor, and Haran. Among his grandsons were Lot, Milcah, and Iscah.

Terah appears in the genealogy of Jesus given in the Gospel of Luke, within the line that descends from Adam: Serug, Nahor, Terah, Abraham. He is named there as the direct father of Abraham. Matthew's genealogy begins with Abraham and does not trace the line back through Terah, so Terah appears only in Luke's account.

Journey from Ur

Scripture relates that Terah's family lived in Ur of the Chaldees, associated with the region of southern Mesopotamia. Genesis recounts that Terah set out from Ur with his household toward the land of Canaan, but stopped and settled in the city of Haran, where he died.

Post-biblical Jewish tradition, outside the text of Genesis, portrays Terah as a maker of idols; one such account, found in the Zohar, relates that Terah afterward repented. These accounts are later traditions rather than part of the scriptural narrative.

Commemoration among the Forefathers

The Orthodox Church commemorates the Holy Forefathers, the Old Testament ancestors of Christ, on the Sunday that falls between December 11 and 17, the second Sunday before the Nativity. The observance remembers the righteous figures who lived before and under the Law, with particular emphasis on the Patriarch Abraham and the covenant promise that in his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed.

As the father of Abraham, Terah belongs to this ancestral line. Individual veneration of Terah apart from the collective commemoration of the Forefathers is not clearly attested.

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Family

Terah stands in the genealogy of Genesis 11 as the link between the patriarchs of the line of Shem and the calling of Abraham.

His father, the preceding patriarch in the line from Shem to Abraham.
Righteous Forefather Nahor
His son, called by God out of Haran to become the father of the faithful.
Righteous Forefather Abraham
His son and brother of Abraham, namesake of his own grandfather and grandfather of Rebecca.
Nahor
His son, father of Lot, who died in Ur of the Chaldees before the family set out for Canaan.
Haran
His grandfather, in the line of Shem.
Righteous Forefather Serug
Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints