GEMARIAH gĕm’ ə rī’ ə (Heb. and Aram. גְּמַרְיָ֖ה), a proper name used from the time of the monarchy known to apply to at least four individuals. The name is apparently understood as, “Jehovah has brought to pass.” 1. A son of a certain Hilkiah, and an emissary to Nebuchadnezzar from King Zedekiah who carried Jeremiah’s message to the captive Jews (Jer 29:3).

2. A son of Shaphan the scribe. It was in his chamber in the Temple that Baruch read the scroll of Jeremiah to the people. When his son, Micaiah, brought in the news of the reading and the princes and officials sent for the scroll to be read, Gemariah with several others remonstrated with King Jehoiakim when he hacked off pieces of the scroll and burned them (Jer 36:10-12, 25).

3. A son of a certain Hissilyahu mentioned in Lachish Ostracon I, a potsherd written during the era of Jeremiah.

4. An official of the Jewish military colony at Egypt. Elephantine, he is mentioned in two of the Aram. papyri (Cowley 22, 33) as the son of a certain Yedoniah.