CARIANI (EHR. *GIRJATH JĒ 'ARTIM*)

CARIANI (cf. *Girjath jē 'artim*). — A city also called *Girjath ba'al*, a later name for the ancient Ba'alàh (*Jos.* 15:9), a border city between the tribe of Ephraim and that of Judah. For several years it housed the ark of the covenant in the house of Abinadab, after it had been returned to the Jews by the Philistines who had taken it in the battle near Alek (*1 Sam.* 6:21; 7:1 ff.), until David had it transported to Sion (*2 Sam.* 6:3; *1 Chron.* 13:5, etc.). The prophet Uria, a contemporary of Jeremiah, was from C. (*Jer.* 26:20). The Jews returning from exile repopulated it (*Ezra* 2:25; *Neh.* 7:29). Eusebius (*Onomasticon*, ed. E. Klostermann, Leipzig 1904, p. 114, 23-27) identifies it with a locality 9 miles from Jerusalem, toward Lydda, corresponding to the modern Abū Gōs, formerly Qarjat el-'inab, 12 km from Jerusalem along the road to Jaffa.