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Where is Paran in the Bible?

Paran was a desert region located in the Sinai Peninsula, south of Canaan. Paran appears in 7 verses across 4 books of the Bible.

What happened at Paran?

Paran was a desert region located in the Sinai Peninsula, south of Canaan. It is mentioned several times in the Old Testament, particularly in connection with the Israelites' wanderings after the Exodus from Egypt. Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar, grew up in the wilderness of Paran after being sent away with his mother (Gen. 21:21). During the Israelites' journey from Egypt to Canaan, they camped in the wilderness of Paran after leaving the wilderness of Sinai (Num. 10:12; 12:16). It was from Paran that Moses sent the twelve spies to explore the land of Canaan (Num. 13:3, 26). The wilderness of Paran was also associated with King David. After the death of Samuel, David went down to the wilderness of Paran (1Sam. 25:1). Later, when Hadad the Edomite fled from King Solomon, he passed through Paran on his way to Egypt (1Kgs. 11:18). The exact boundaries of the wilderness of Paran are not clearly defined in the Bible, but it appears to have been a vast desert region in the central and northeastern parts of the Sinai Peninsula, bordered by the wilderness of Zin to the north and the Gulf of Aqaba to the south.

Definition text: STEPBible · Tyndale House Cambridge. Licensed CC BY 4.0. Lightly edited for length and formatting.

Compiled by Protos: the verse list on this page. Where one name belongs to more than one person or place, each of them gets a separate entry.

Where does Paran appear in the Bible?

Paran is referenced in 7 verses across 4 books. Every passage below is about this one, not just every verse the word turns up in.

Numbers 41 Kings 11 Samuel 1Genesis 1

What else appears in these passages?

These turn up in the same passages as Paran.

EgyptWildernessMosesMidianSamuelDavid

Common questions

How many times does the Bible mention Paran?

Paran appears in 7 verses across 4 books, most often in Numbers, which accounts for 4 of them.

Which books of the Bible mention Paran?

Numbers, 1 Kings, 1 Samuel, Genesis.

Where can I read every verse about Paran?

This page lists 7 of them. Protos carries all 7, and opens this entry on the verse you are reading rather than in a separate tab.

Read it in context

Read Numbers with Paran explained on the verse.

Tap any name, place, or word you do not recognize and the background opens on the verse you are reading. No second tab, no search, no losing your place.

The Protos reader open on Genesis 1 with the How to Read Genesis background sheet raised over it
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