ZORAH zôr’ ə (צָרְעָ֖ה, KJV once ZOREAH, Josh 15:33, once ZAREAH Neh 11:29, meaning uncertain, perhaps stroke, scourge, hornet). A city in the lowlands of Judah (Shephelah; Josh 15:33) which formerly belonged to Dan (Josh 19:41; Judg 13:2; 18:2). The town was the home of Manoah the father of Samson (13:2). It was in Mahaneh-Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol that Samson first experienced the constraint of the Spirit of the Lord (13:25). Samson was buried here after his death in the same region (16:31). When the Danites decided to vacate their territory due to Philistine pressure, some of the five men sent out to reconnoiter further N for a new home came from Zorah and Eshtaol (18:2). On their recommendation six hundred warriors from Zorah and Eshtaol took Laish in the N (18:8-11). It was while passing through Ephraim that they laid hold of the Levite whom Micah had appointed as his priest and took him and Micah’s golden image with them (18:14-31).

Solomon’s son Rehoboam strengthened the fortifications of Zorah on his southern flank (2 Chron 11:10). After the Exile the town was reoccupied by returning exiles (Neh 11:29).

The inhabitants of Zorah variously known as Zorathites (צָֽרְעָתִֽי 1 Chron 4:2), Zorites (1 Chron 2:54) and Zareathites (KJV once, 1 Chron 2:53) are mentioned several times in the OT. In the list of descendants of Judah they are mentioned as deriving from Kiriathjearim. They formed part of the clan of Manahethites (or Menuhoth).

The ancient site is represented by the modern Sar’ ah on the N side of the Wadi es-Sarar on a hill overlooking the wadi some fifteen m. N of Beit Jibrin.

Bibliography F. M. Abel, Géographie de la Palestine, II (1938), 468, 469.