Mount Carmel

Mount Carmel (Hebrew: הַר הַכַּרְמֶל, Har haKarmel; Arabic: جبل الكرمل, Jabal al-Karmil), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias (Arabic: جبل مار إلياس, Jabal Mār Ilyās, lit. 'Mount Saint Elias/Elijah'), is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast. The range is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. A number of towns are situated there, most notably the city of Haifa, Israel's third largest city, located on the northern and western slopes.

Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits ~ Isaiah, 33:9

The excellency of Carmel and Sharon ~ Isaiah, 35:2

Thine head upon thee is like Carmel ~ Song of Solomon, 7:5

Quotes

• And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.
  So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees,
  And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times.
  And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down that the rain stop thee not.
  • 1 Kings, 18:41–44 (KJV)

• Also he built towers in the desert, and digged many wells: for he had much cattle, both in the low country, and in the plains: husbandmen also, and vine dressers in the mountains, and in Carmel: for he loved husbandry.
  • 2 Chronicles, 26:10

• Thine head upon thee is like Carmel,
  • Song of Solomon, 7:5 (KJV)

• The earth mourneth and languisheth: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down: Sharon is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.
  • Isaiah, 33:9 (KJV)

• The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
  It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.
  • Isaiah, 35:1–2 (KJV)

• I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.
  • Jeremiah, 4:26 (KJV)

• As I live, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts, Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.
  • Jeremiah, 46:18 (KJV)

• And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead.
  • Jeremiah, 50:19 (KJV)

• He immediately embarked for Egypt, through the means of some Egyptian sailors, who very opportunely at that time landed on the Phœnician coast under mount Carmelus, in whose temple Pythagoras, separated from all society, for the most part dwelt. But the sailors gladly received him, foreseeing that they should acquire great gain by exposing him to sale. But when, during the voyage, they perceived with what continence and venerable gravity he conducted himself, in conformity to the mode of living he had adopted, they were more benevolently disposed towards him. Observing, likewise, that there was something greater than what pertains to human nature in the modesty of the youth, they called to mind how unexpectedly he had appeared to them on their landing, when from the summit of mount Carmelus, which they knew was more sacred than other mountains, and inaccessible to the vulgar, he leisurely descended without looking back, or suffering any delay from precipices or opposing stones; and that when he came to the boat, he said nothing more than, “Are you bound for Egypt?”
  • Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras, Chap. III
  • Thomas Taylor, transl., Iamblichus’ Life of Pythagoras, or Pythagoric Life (J. M. Watkins, 1926)

• From Carmel’s almond-shaded steep
  We feel the cheering fragrance creep:
  • Thomas Warton the Younger, "The Crusade"
  • Poems (New ed., 1777), p. 59

• На Кармиле иудейские пророка метали самые ярые проклятия язычеству. На Кармиле в одной из пещер троглодитов, жил Илия, лютейший враг Ваала.
  • Ivan Bunin, «Шеол», Тень птицы (1911)
    • At Carmel, the Jewish prophets hurled the most ardent curses against paganism. On Carmel, in one of the troglodyte caves, lived Elijah, the fiercest enemy of Baal.

• Carmel is really not a single mountain, but a mountain chain. The first foothills begin right after Zichron Ya’acov, and my traveling companion who, although he has never been in Russia, speaks Russian but occasionally makes amusing mistakes, warned me: “Now there will begin insane beauty.”
  • Andrei Sedych; Elizabeth Reynolds Hapgood, transl., This Land of Israel (1967), p. 62

• Hunched and humped the rusty slopes
  As if great camels lay at rest there.
  • Dovid Knut, quoted in This Land of Israel, p. 62