Ramath Lehi

RAMATH LEHI (rā'măth lē'hī, Heb. rāmath lehî, the hill or height of Lehi). The place where Samson threw away the jawbone of a donkey after the slaughter of the Philistines (Judg.15.17). The hill may have received its name because of its real or fancied resemblance to a jawbone. It is sometimes identified with the Wady-es Sarrar, not far from Timnath and Zorah, Samson’s area of operation (Judg.13.25; Judg.14.1).

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RAMATH-LEHI rā’ mĭth le’ hī (רָ֥מַת לֶֽחִי, the hill of Lehi). The scene of Samson’s rout of the Philistines with the jawbone of an ass for a weapon (Judg 15:17).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

So the place is said to have been called where Samson threw away the jaw-bone of an ass, with which he had slain 1,000 Philistines (Jud 15:17). The Septuagint seems to have supposed that the name referred to the "heaving" or throwing up of the jaw-bone. The Hebrew, however, corresponds to the form used in other placenames, such as Ramath-mizpeh, and must be read as "Ramah of Lehi." The name Lehi may have been given because of some real or imagined likeness in the place to the shape of a jaw-bone (Jud 15:9,14,19). It may have been in Wady es-Sarar, not far from Zorah and Timnath; but the available data do not permit of certain identification.

See Jawbone; Lehi.