PETHOR pə’ thôr (פְּתֹ֛ור; Assyrian-Babylonian Pitru). A city of N Mesopotamia, located on the W banks of the Upper Euphrates at the point where it is joined by the river Sagura (now Sajur), a few m. S of Carchemish. It was known as Pitru to the Hittites and as Ana-Ashur-utîr-aṩbat (“I settled it again for Asshur”) to the Assyrians. While the Israelites were sojourning in Egypt, the town was captured by the Hittites and held by them until the 9th cent. b.c. when it was wrested from them by Shalmaneser III (859-824), who recorded his victory: “I crossed the Euphrates and took the city Ana-Ashur-utîr-aṩbat on the other side of the Euphrates on the Sajur which the Hittites called Pitru.” Long before this time, however, it had appeared in Thutmose III’s list of Syrian towns conquered.

Pethor was the home of Balaam, the prophet, son of Beor, who was summoned by King Balak of Moab to curse the Israelites who were entering the land (Num 22:5; Deut 23:4).