Bible Locations

Kir-hareseth, also called Kir-heres or Kir of Moab, was a main fortress city of Moab, at Kerak in Jordan, on a high rocky hill surrounded by deep valleys, about 3,000 feet above sea level and east of the Dead Sea. When Jehoram of Israel, Jehoshaphat of Judah and the king of Edom invaded Moab, only Kir-hareseth held out. King Mesha, desperate, "took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him as a sacrifice on the city wall," and the Israelites withdrew (2 Kings 3:25-27). Isaiah 16:7 laments the loss of its raisin cakes, and Isaiah 16:11 says, "My heart laments for Moab like a harp, my inmost being for Kir Hareseth." Jeremiah 48 repeats the mourning. In the 1100s AD, the Crusaders built a huge castle there, later held by the notorious Raynald of Châtillon. The castle still dominates the town today.