Bible Dictionaries
Jarmuth

Holman Bible Dictionary

(jahr' muhth) Place name meaning, “height” or “swelling in the ground.” 1. City whose king joined southern coalition against Joshua and Gibeon (Joshua 10:1 ). Joshua “stored” the king in the cave of Makkedah before shaming him and slaying him (compare Joshua 12:11 ). It lay in the western “lowlands,” the “foothills” (NIV) or Shephelah (REB) of the tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:33 ,Joshua 15:33,15:35 ). It is identified with modern tell Jarmuth three miles southwest of Beth Shemesh and fifteen miles southwest of Jerusalem. An Amarna letter from tell el-Hesi mentions it. Brief excavations have shown Early Bronze and Stone Age remains but as yet nothing from the Late Bronze or Early Iron ages. In Nehemiah's time Jewish settlers lived there (Nehemiah 11:29 ). 2 . A city of the Levites in the tribal territory of Issachar (Joshua 21:29; compare Joshua 19:21; 1 Chronicles 6:58 , both spelled differently and differing from 1. above; thus spelling of Remeth, Ramoth). This city may be located at modern Kaukab el-Hawa.