The ancient city in southern Mesopotamia from which God called Abram out by faith. Archaeological identification with Tell el-Muqayyar in modern Iraq, excavated by Leonard Woolley in the 1920s, revealed a major Sumerian-then-Babylonian urban center with a great ziggurat dedicated to the moon god Nanna/Sin, sophisticated craftsmanship, and an organized commercial economy. Genesis 11:31 narrates Terah taking Abram, Sarai, and Lot from Ur to Haran; Genesis 12 records the LORD's call to Abram in Haran (or perhaps initially in Ur, per Stephen's account in Acts 7:2-4). Genesis 15:7 has the LORD's self-identification: I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. Hebrews 11:8 frames Abram's departure as the canonical act of faith: he went out, not knowing whither he went. Ur is the city Abram left; the promised land is the country toward which the entire Bible moves. The call from Ur is the call every Christian receives in spiritual form: leave the place you have built and follow the LORD into the place He will show you.