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Moriah

Biblical
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The mountain where Abraham was tested to sacrifice Isaac and later the site of Solomon’s Temple.

Detailed Definition
Moriah (Genesis 22; 2 Chronicles 3) unites patriarchal obedience and temple worship. In poetry, it symbolizes the intersection of faith and sacrifice, divine provision, and the sacred center where heaven meets earth in both trial and worship.
Example
Example in poetry:
Moriah—mountain of Abraham’s sacrifice and temple—fuels typological poetry: “On Moriah, Isaac carried wood; centuries later, the Son carried cross”; A modern poem: “My Moriah is the place where I surrender what I love most”; In a sonnet on provision: “Jehovah-jireh still provides on Moriah’s heights”; Historical verse: “Blessed Moriah, where faith met fire, and God met man.”
Additional Notes
Moriah is one of the most theologically dense locations in the Bible: it is where Abraham’s faith was tested in the near-sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22:2)—a narrative foundational to Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions—and later identified as the site of Solomon’s Temple (2 Chronicles 3:1), making it the sacred center of Israelite worship. The name may derive from a root meaning “to see” or “to provide” (“YHWH will provide,” Genesis 22:14), linking divine foresight with sacrificial substitution. In poetry, Moriah functions as a multivalent symbol of obedience, divine presence, atonement, and the paradox of holy violence transformed into sacred space; it resonates powerfully in typological readings where Isaac prefigures Christ and the Temple foreshadows the body of Christ.
Also Known As
Mount Moriah
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