Parah
Pa'rah (Heb. Parah', פָּרָה [with the article], heifer; Sept. Φαρά v. r. Α᾿φάρ), a city of the tribe of Benjamin, named in the north-eastern group between Avim and Ophrah (Jos 18:23). Buckingham (Travels, p. 312) heard of a village named Farah, which Robinson, however, could not find; but the name exists farther to the south-east attached to the Wady el-Farah, one of the southern branches of the great Wady Suweinit, and to a site of ruins at the junction of the same with the main valley (Ritter, Pal. u. Syrien, 3:529). This identification is supported by Van de Velde (Memoir, p. 339) and Schwarz (Palestine, p. 126). The drawback mentioned by Dr. Robinson (Researches, 2:112), namely, that the Arabic word: ("mouse") differs in signification from the Hebrew ("the cow") is not of much force, since it is the habit of modern names to cling to similarity of sound with the ancient names, rather than of signification (Beit-ur, el-Aal, etc.). A view of the valley is given by Barclay (City of the Great King, p. 558), who proposes it for AENON SEE AENON (q.v.); but he incorrectly interprets the name ("valley of delight").
