Kareah

Kareah (meaning bald) was the father of Johanan and Jonathan, two military commanders who initially remained loyal to Gedaliah, the governor appointed by Nebuchadnezzar over the remnant left in Judah after the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem. His sons warned Gedaliah of Ishmael's plot to assassinate him—a warning the governor fatally ignored (Jeremiah 40:13–16).

After Ishmael murdered Gedaliah, it was Johanan son of Kareah who led the military commanders in pursuing Ishmael, rescuing the captives he was taking toward Ammon, and then—against Jeremiah's explicit counsel—leading the remaining Judeans down to Egypt for fear of Babylonian reprisals. Kareah is mentioned only as the patronymic of his more famous son Johanan, and his own background and history are unknown. The name appears repeatedly in the Jeremiah narrative (40:8, 13, 15, 16; 41:11, 13, 14, 16; 42:1, 8; 43:2, 4, 5) as a consistent identifier for this prominent military officer in the crisis period after Jerusalem's fall.