Ur of the Chaldees

[kal-deez, kal-deez]

noun

1. the city where Abraham was born, sometimes identified with the Sumerian city of Ur. Genesis. 11:28, 31; 15:7; Nehemiah 9:7.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Ur of the Chaldees¹

From Late Latin Ur Chaldeorum; further origin uncertain

Example Sentences

In 2009, Rebecca Solnit wrote, “Phoenix will be like Jericho or Ur of the Chaldees, with the shriveled relics of golf courses and the dusty hills of swimming pools added on.”

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He waved his hand; and it was as though, with an invisible feather wisk, he had brushed away a little dust, and the dust was Harappa, was Ur of the Chaldees; some spider-webs, and they were Thebes and Babylon and Cnossos and Mycenae.

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To whoever compares the two it becomes evident that they must have been one and the same up to the time when Terah and his family left Ur of the Chaldees to go into Palestine.

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He goes forth from Keilah, as his father Abraham went forth from Ur of the Chaldees, not knowing whither.

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It is acknowledged, at least by implication, in the Bible itself that the story of Abraham is of Chaldean origin, as his father Terah was a native of Ur of the Chaldees and the alleged patriarch was a Chaldean.

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