NAARAH nā’ ə rə (נַעֲרָ֑תָה, נַעֲרָ֔ן; girl). NAARATH, nā’răth (Josh 16:7 KJV); NAARAN, nā’răn (1 Chron 7:28 KJV, ASV, RSV). 1. One of the two wives of Ashur, a man of Judah, who bore him four sons (1 Chron 4:5, 6).

2. A city listed as marking part of the border of Ephraim (Josh 16:7), but prob. just inside the border, for 1 Chronicles 7:28 mentions it (Naaran) as belonging to Ephraim. It is listed immediately before Jericho in the border description indicating proximity of location. Tell el-Gisr, just below the springs, “’Ain Duq” and “’Ain Nu ’eimeh” at the foot of the Judean hills, a short distance NW of Jericho, is the most likely site. These springs qualify as “waters of Jericho” lying E of the border (Josh 16:1). A note from Josephus (Antiq. XVII. xiii. 1) says that Archelaus, after rebuilding Jericho, “diverted half the water with which the village of Neara used to be watered,” thus locating Neara (Naarah) near Jericho and associated with a good water supply. N. Glueck, however, favors Khirbet el-’Ayash which is nearer the five m. distance from Jericho. Eusebius also mentions a city, Noorath.

Bibliography N. Glueck, AASOR, XXV-XXVIII (1939), 412, 413; J. Simons, GTT (1959), 163, 167.