"I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it."
Genesis 15:7 · King James Bible
Where it was
Ur was one of the greatest cities of the ancient world — a Sumerian metropolis on the west bank of the Euphrates river, in what is now southern Iraq. The Chaldees or Chaldeans were the people who lived in that region. In Abraham's time (probably around 2000 BC) Ur was already ancient — a wealthy trading city famous for its ziggurat, its temple of the moon-god Nannar, and its wharves crowded with ships from the Persian Gulf.Why it matters in the Bible
Ur is where the story of the people of God begins. Genesis 11 lists the family of Terah — Abram, Nahor, and Haran — as living in "Ur of the Chaldees." Genesis 12 records God's call: leave your country, your kindred, your father's house, and go to a land I will show you. Abraham obeyed. He and Sarah and Lot walked away from a great city — a city of temples and towers and comfort — for a promise.The name Ur comes up again in Genesis 15, when God reminds Abraham of what he did: "I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees." And in Nehemiah 9:7 Israel prays back the same memory: "Thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees." It is the first act in the whole story of salvation — one man being called out.