Bible Locations

Parah, "heifer" or "cow," was a town of Benjamin, listed only in Joshua 18:23 with Avvim and Ophrah, among the eastern towns of the tribe. It's usually identified with Khirbet el-Fara, near the spring of Ain Fara, about six miles northeast of Jerusalem, in the Wadi Qelt, the Wadi Fara, a deep valley running down toward Jericho. The spring there still flows strongly and is a popular nature reserve, called En Prat in Hebrew. Some scholars think it's the "Perath" in Jeremiah 13, where God told Jeremiah to hide a linen belt, since "Perath" usually means the Euphrates, which would have required two very long trips. The early monk Chariton founded a monastery there in the 300s AD, called the Pharan Lavra, one of the first in the Judean wilderness. It has been restored and is still used by monks today.