KIR-HARESETH ( Isaiah 16:7 ), Kir-haraseth ( 2 Kings 3:25 AV [Note: Authorized Version.] [pausal form]), Kir-heres ( Jeremiah 48:31; Jeremiah 48:36 ), Kir-haresh ( Isaiah 16:11 AV [Note: Authorized Version.] [pausal form]). A place of great strength and importance in Moab; generally regarded as identical with Kir of Moab (wh. see). The LXX [Note: Septuagint.] and Vulg. [Note: Vulgate.] take these names as phrases, and translate them on some more or less fanciful Hebrew etymology. The Targum on Isaiah renders Kerak tokpehon , which suggests that haraseth may be connected with the Assyrian hurshu , ‘a cliff,’ etc., but the word may be Moabite or Canaanite, and seems to occur in ‘Harosheth of the Gentiles’ ( Judges 4:2; Judges 4:13; Judges 4:16 ). The modern Kasr harasha , 35 minutes’ walk above Dera’a, preserves a similar title.
C. H. W. Johns.