Ramah (Ramathaim Zophim)
הָרָמָה
Where was biblical Ramah? At Er-Ram, about 5 miles north of Jerusalem. I mark it very likely.
Baasha king of Israel fortified this Benjamin town to choke off Judah's road north. By most views it was also the home of the prophet Samuel.
By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker
- Site today
- Er-Ram, about 5 miles north of Jerusalem
- How sure
- Very likely Strong evidence, with no serious rival.
- Other names
- Ramathaim Zophim, Rama, Ha-Ramah
- Location
- 31.8493° N, 35.2335° E (Google Maps)
How we know where it was
Ha-Ramah means the height, and the village of er-Ram keeps the name. Eusebius puts Rama about six Roman miles north of Jerusalem. It fits every clue for Ramah of Benjamin. The town is listed with Gibeon among Benjamin's towns. It sits on the ridge road near Gibeah and Geba, between Jerusalem and Beit El, and Deborah judged Israel under her palm tree between Ramah and Beit El. Isaiah lists it on the Assyrian march toward Jerusalem.
That road made Ramah a gathering point at the end, too. After Jerusalem fell, the captives were collected here in chains for the march to Babylon, and here Jeremiah was set free. It gives weight to Jeremiah's own words: "A voice is heard in Ramah... Rachel weeping for her children."
Samuel's birthplace is called Ramathaim Zophim once. After that the Bible calls his town simply Ramah. The Talmud and Rashi read Ramathaim, "two heights," as two facing hills of one town. Samuel judged Israel in a yearly circuit of Beit El, Gilgal and Mitzpah, then came home to Ramah. Er-Ram sits in the middle of that loop, close to Saul's Gibeah.
Not everyone agrees that Samuel's Ramah is this one. Others place his town in the hills of Ephraim, or at Rentis near Lod, where Eusebius put it. One proposal puts Ramah on Nebi Samwil, the hill long known as Samuel's tomb.
Visiting today
Er-Ram is a built-up town, and there is no visitor site for the ancient one.
Read it in the Bible
Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.
See Ramah on the interactive map →
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- Gibeah of Saul 3 km south
- Nob 4 km south
- Mizpah 4 km north
- Gibeon 4 km west
- Michmash 5 km northeast
- Anathoth 5 km southeast