Giah was a place near Gibeon where Joab and Abishai pursued Abner after the battle at the pool of Gibeon.
Giah is a location mentioned only once in the Bible, in 2Sa.2.24. It was situated near Gibeon, a prominent city in Benjamin's territory just north of Jerusalem.
The context of the reference to Giah is the aftermath of a battle between the forces of David and Ishbosheth, Saul's son, at the pool of Gibeon. Abner, the commander of Ishbosheth's army, was retreating after being defeated. Joab and Abishai, David's generals and brothers, pursued Abner and his men.
The text states that the pursuit continued "on the road to the wilderness of Gibeon" and that "the sun was going down when they came to the hill of Ammah, which is before Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon" (2Sa.2.24, ESV).
No further details are provided about Giah. It seems to have been a known landmark on the road from Gibeon toward the wilderness area to the east. The mention of the "hill of Ammah" suggests Giah was located in hilly terrain.
Apart from this single reference, Giah is not mentioned elsewhere in the Bible or in any known extra-biblical sources. Its exact location remains unknown, though it can be generally placed in the vicinity of Gibeon, probably to the east.
Approximate location: 31.869, 35.343 · view on a map · on the Bible atlas
(a waterfall), a place named only in (2 Samuel 2:24) to designate the position of the hill Ammah.
to guide; draw out; produce; a groan or sigh
GI'AH (a breaking forth; here, a waterfall), near the hill Arumah, 2 Sam 2:24.
GI'AH (a breaking forth; here, a waterfall), near the hill Arumah, 2 Sam 2:24. GI'ANT denotes men of extraordinary size or height. Gen 6:4. The sons of Anak are usually looked upon as giants, on account of the expression of which the spies made use — that they were "as grasshoppers ... in their sight." Num 13:33. The fright of the Israelites makes it probable that they were referring to strength rather than stature. The king of Bashan, Deut 3:11, and Goliath, 1 Sam 17:4, were warlike and dreaded giants. See Rephaim.
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
1 verse in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H1520
But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. By sunset, they had gone as far as the hill of Ammah opposite Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon.
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.