The name Jerahmeel (Hebrew יְרַחְמְאֵל, Greek ιραμεηλ) appears several times in the Tanakh. It means "He will obtain mercy of God"[1] or "God pities"[2] or "May God have compassion".[3]
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There are probably three distinct persons of that name in the Tanakh.[1][2][3] In order of their lifetimes they are:
The Jerahmeelites were a people, presumably descended from Jerahmeel number 1 above, living in the Negev, who David, while in service with the Philistines, claimed to have attacked (1 Samuel 27:10), but with whom he was really on friendly terms (1 Samuel 30:29).
Cheyne developed a theory which made the Jerahmeelites into a significant part of the history of Israel,[2] but most subsequent scholars have dismissed his ideas as fanciful.[5]
In some deuterocanonical and apocryphal writings there are references to an archangel variously called Jeremiel, Eremiel, Remiel, Ramiel etc. See the article Jerahmeel (archangel).
The Chronicles of Jerahmeel is a mediaeval document ascribed to the 12th century Jewish historian Jerahmeel ben Solomon, and is unrelated to any of the above.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.