(Hoʹreb) [Dry; Waste].

“The mountain of the true God,” apparently the same as Mount Sinai. (1Ki 19:8; Ex 33:6) Generally, though, Horeb seems to designate the mountainous region around Mount Sinai, otherwise called the Wilderness of Sinai.​—De 1:6, 19; 4:10, 15; 5:2; 9:8; 18:16; 29:1; 1Ki 8:9; 2Ch 5:10; Ps 106:19; Mal 4:4; compare Ex 3:1, 2; Ac 7:30; see SINAI Nos. 1 and 2.

At Horeb, Jehovah’s angel appeared to Moses in the midst of the burning thornbush, commissioning him to lead Israel out of Egypt. (Ex 3:1-15) Later, while at Rephidim, the liberated Israelites complained about having no water to drink. Thereupon, at Jehovah’s direction, Moses, accompanied by some of the older men of Israel, went to a rock in Horeb, evidently the mountainous region of Horeb, and struck the rock with his rod. Water miraculously began issuing forth from this rock. (Ex 17:1-6; compare Ps 105:41.) Centuries afterward, the prophet Elijah fled from vengeful Queen Jezebel to Horeb by way of Beer-sheba.​—1Ki 19:2-8.