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KIR

(Heb. qîr)

1. The place to which the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III deported Syrian (Aramean) peoples after destroying Damascus in 732 b.c.e. (2 Kgs. 16:9 MT; cf. Amos 1:5). According to Amos, Kir was the original home of the Arameans (Amos 9:7). Most LXX manuscripts do not refer to Kir in 2 Kgs. 16:9, perhaps suggesting that this is a scribal gloss based on the reference in Amos.

The precise location of Kir is not certain, but an Akkadian tablet from the Late Bronze Age Syrian city of Emar refers to a certain Pilsu-Dagan, not only as the “king of the city of Emar,” but also as the “king of the people of the land of Qi-ri.” This may suggest that Kir was near Emar, an important city on the Euphrates River.

2. A city in Moab (Isa. 15:1). It is probably the same as Kir-hareseth (modern Kerak).

3. Apparently a city in southern Mesopotamia. In Isa. 22:6 Kir is mentioned in conjunction with the southern Mesopotamian city of Elam as a source of military support for the Assyrian army.

Bibliography. M. Cogan and H. Tadmor II Kings. AB 11 (Garden City, 1988); W. T. Pitard, Ancient Damascus (Winona Lake, 1987); R. Zadok, “Elements of Aramean Pre-History,” in Ah, Assyria, ed. M. Cogan and I. Ephʿal. ScrHier 33 (Jerusalem, 1991): 104-17.

Chris A. Rollston

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

KIR

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)