Jarmuth
יַרְמוּת · “Yarmuth” on the map
Where was biblical Jarmuth? At Tel Yarmut, 3 km south of modern Beit Shemesh, about 25 km west of Jerusalem. I mark it very likely.
Piram king of Yarmuth answered Jerusalem's call and marched on Gibeon with four other Amorite kings. Joshua routed them on the day the sun stood still, and Piram was brought out of the cave at Makkedah to face judgment.
By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker
- Site today
- Tel Yarmut, 3 km south of modern Beit Shemesh
- How sure
- Very likely Strong evidence, with no serious rival.
- Other names
- Yarmut, Khirbet el-Yarmuk, Tel Yarmut
- Location
- 31.7100° N, 34.9800° E (Google Maps)
How we know where it was
The name barely changed. The Arabs called this hill Khirbet el-Yarmuk, which is Yarmut with a single sound shifted. Eusebius placed the village about ten Roman miles from Beit Guvrin in the direction of Jerusalem, and that fits. Joshua's list of Judah's lowland towns puts Yarmuth beside Adullam, Socho and Azekah. All three are neighbors of this hill.
The excavators found something unexpected. Yarmut was one of the largest fortified cities of the Early Bronze Age, ringed by massive stone walls. That was long before Joshua. By the Late Bronze Age, Joshua's time on the biblical chronology, the town here was much smaller.
So it's worth being plain about what the case rests on. The name and the location point here clearly. The ground does not add a conquest-era city to match the story. That is why it's very likely, not certain.
The last mention of Yarmuth is a quiet one. After the exile, returning families settled here again.
Visiting today
Tel Yarmut is a wooded hill just south of modern Beit Shemesh, with Early Bronze Age walls exposed. A dirt track reaches it on foot.
Read it in the Bible
Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.
See Yarmuth on the interactive map →
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Get the print + free ebookNearby places
- Socoh 3 km south
- Azekah 4 km west
- Beth Shemesh 5 km north
- Adullam 7 km south
- Zorah (Tzorah) 7 km north
- Eshtaol 8 km north