The son of Nachor the Elder and father of Av-Ram, Nachor the Younger and Haran. According to the Book of Jubilees he was called Terach = "suffering", after flocks of ravens ravaged the crops of Ur. Some sources say Terach married twice: Amitlai the daughter of Bar Nevo and Edna the daughter of an elder kinsman named Av-Ram; and that Av-Ram was named for Edna's father. Other versions say that Terach had a third wife, Jessica bat Kesed, who was Av-Ram's mother. Av-Ram's wife Sarai is also said to be the daughter of one of Terach's wives, but it is not clear which. Some versions make Av-Ram the youngest, others the eldest: as Nachor bears his paternal grandfather's name it is logical to see him as the eldest; just as Av-Ram bears the name of Edna's father, which is the normal custom for the second son.
An Assyrian inscription of the 9th century BCE refers to Til Turahi near Charan.
Genesis 11:24 names him as Av-Ram's father, as does Joshua 24:2, though the latter refers to Av-Raham rather than Av-Ram.
Numbers 33:27 and 28 name Tarach (תָרַח) as a station of the Beney Yisra-El in the wilderness; though all translators automatically render this as Terach, as they do his name in Genesis 11:24. In the case of the name this is probably correct, as references to him afterwards all name him as Teracgh; in the case of this caravanserai however there is no evidence for the alteration.
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