Ramah

Hannah went home to Ramah after praying for a son, and there she and Elkanah raised Samuel. When he grew up, “his return was to Ramah; for there was his house; and there he judged Israel” (1 Samuel 7:17), and he was buried there. Because the town sat on the border between Israel and Judah, King Baasha began to fortify it and King Asa carried off its stones to build elsewhere (1 Kings 15). Centuries later Jeremiah wrote, “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping” (Jeremiah 31:15). To meet the town, begin with 1 Samuel 1.

21 verses

Joshua

Joshua 18:25

Gibeon, and Ramah, and Beeroth,

1 Samuel

1 Samuel 1:1

Now there was a certain man of Ramathaimzophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite:

1 Samuel 1:19

And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the LORD, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the LORD remembered her.

1 Samuel 1:20

Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD.

1 Samuel 7:17

And his return was to Ramah; for there was his house; and there he judged Israel; and there he built an altar unto the LORD.

1 Samuel 8:4

Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah,

1 Samuel 15:34

Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul.

1 Samuel 25:1

And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

1 Kings

1 Kings 15:17

And Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not suffer any to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.

1 Kings 15:18

Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants: and king Asa sent them to Benhadad, the son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying,

1 Kings 15:19

There is a league between me and thee, and between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent unto thee a present of silver and gold; come and break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.

1 Kings 15:20

So Benhadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of the hosts which he had against the cities of Israel, and smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abelbethmaachah, and all Cinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.

1 Kings 15:21

And it came to pass, when Baasha heard thereof, that he left off building of Ramah, and dwelt in Tirzah.

1 Kings 15:22

Then king Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah; none was exempted: and they took away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha had builded; and king Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah.

Ezra

Ezra 2:26

The children of Ramah and Gaba, six hundred twenty and one.

Nehemiah

Nehemiah 7:30

The men of Ramah and Geba, six hundred twenty and one.

Isaiah

Isaiah 10:29

They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled.

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 31:15

Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.

Hosea

Hosea 5:8

Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at Bethaven, after thee, O Benjamin.

Jude

Jude 1:4

For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jude 1:5

I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.

From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

(a hill). This is the name of several places in the holy land.

(1.) One of the cities of the allotment of Benjamin. (Joshua 18:25) Its site is at er-Ram , about five miles from Jerusalem, and near to Gibeah. (Judges 4:5; 19:13; 1 Samuel 22:6) Its people returned after the captivity. (Ezra 2:26; Nehemiah 7:30)

(2.) The home of Elkanah, Samuel’s father, (1 Samuel 1:19; 2:11) the birthplace of Samuel himself, his home and official residence, the site of his altar ch. (1 Samuel 7:17; 8:4; 15:34; 16:13; 19:18) and finally his burial-place, ch. (1 Samuel 25:1; 28:3) It is a contracted form of Ramathaim-zophim. All that is directly said as to its situation is that it was in Mount Ephraim, (1 Samuel 1:1) a district without defined boundaries, The position of Ramah is a much-disputed question. Tradition, however places the residence of Samuel on the lofty and remarkable eminence of Neby Samwil which rises four miles to the northwest of Jerusalem. Since the days of Arcult the tradition appears to have been continuous. Here, then, we are inclined in the present state of the evidence, to place the Ramah of Samuel.

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(3.) One of the nineteen fortified places of Naphtali. (Joshua 19:36) Dr. Robinson has discovered a Rameh northwest of the Sea of Galilee, about 8 miles east-south-east of Safed.

(4.) One of the landmarks on the boundary of Asher, (Joshua 19:29) apparently between Tyre and Zidon. Some place it 3 miles east of Tyre, others 10 miles off and east-southeast of the same city.

(5.) By this name in (2 Kings 8:29) and 2Chr 22:6 only, is designated Ramoth-gilead.

(6.) A place mentioned in the catalogue of those reinhabited by the Benjamites after their return from the captivity. (Nehemiah 11:33)

Based on Nave's Topical Bible by Orville J. Nave (1896). Dictionary entries from Smith's Bible Dictionary. Public domain. KJV scripture text, public domain.