THE FULL ARTICLE — from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), general editor James Orr — public domain, printed whole.

je'-ra (yerach): A son of Joktan (Ge 10:26 parallel 1Ch 1:20). No district Jerah has been discovered. However, Yurakh in Yemen and Yarach in Hijaz are places named by the Arabic geographers. The fact that the word in Hebrew means "moon" has led to the following suggestions: the Banu Hilal ("sons of the new moon") in the North of Yemen; Ghubb el-Qamar ("the bay of the moon"), Jebel el-Qamar ("the mountains of the moon") in Eastern Chadramant. But in Southern Arabia worship of the moon has caused the word to bulk largely in place-names.