The name Jerahmeel (Hebrew יְרַחְמְאֵל, Yəraḥməʾēl; Greek ιραμεηλ) appears several times in the Tanakh. It means "He will obtain mercy of God",[1] "God pities",[2] "May God have compassion",[3] "May God pity",[4] or "Moon from God".[5]
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[4] (1 Samuel 30:29).
Cheyne developed a theory that made the Jerahmeelites into a significant part of the history of Israel,[2] but most subsequent scholars have dismissed his ideas as fanciful.[8]
In some deuterocanonical and apocryphal writings, there are references to an archangel variously called Jeremiel, Eremiel, Remiel, etc. See the article Jerahmeel (archangel).
The Chronicles of Jerahmeel is a medieval document ascribed to the 12th century Jewish historian Jerahmeel ben Solomon, and is unrelated to any of the above.